The Lost World: The Isle of Berk
by senoritaxtee
Summary: Sequel to Welcome to the Isle of Berk. Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs go to Site B to stop BioSyn's plans to bring dragons back to the mainland. They are joined by some unexpected guests, both dragon and human in their efforts to stop yet another InGen disaster.
1. The Haddock National Conservation Zoo

**The Lost World: The Isle of Berk**

 **Full Summary** : Sequel to Welcome to the Isle of Berk. Set two years after the incident at the Isle of Berk, Hiccup and Astrid have taken on Fishlegs as an intern and are successfully learning more about dragons than they could ever hope. Meanwhile Peter Ludlow of InGen's competitor company BioSyn has plans to move the dragons from the island back to the mainland as an attraction for the public. Now the dragontologists must travel to Site B to stop yet another InGen disaster.

 **Chapter One: The Haddock National Conservation Zoo**

Peter Ludlow dialed the number for the Haddock National Conservation Zoo. "Hello, Mrs. Haddock? … Oh, oh! My apologies, _Doctor_ Haddock. My name is Peter Ludlow and I represent BioSyn. I was hoping to speak with you about a new investment that could drive numbers of visitors up substantially," Ludlow adjusted his glasses on his nose before continuing. "You know that more visitors the Zoo receives the more revenue which means you could donate more to your conservation efforts."

He listened carefully to Dr. Haddock's response on the other line. "It would involve transporting several species of dragons from the failed InGen islands…yes, you heard me correctly, islands, plural. Anyway, we would transfer the mon—er _animals_ over to your zoo. We would of course have to take a percentage. But we can hash out the exact numbers later. Whaddya say, Mrs. uh, sorry Dr. Haddock?"

Dr. Haddock replied, "I will have to think about it. I'm going to turn you over to one of my interns and he'll get your contact information. I will be in contact with you shortly."

"Good, good," Ludlow replied into the phone. "I look forward to doing business with you." He quickly gave his contact information to the intern on the other line. As he hung up the phone he turned to the young man sitting at the desk across from him. The man had a blue tattoo over his left eye and a scraggly auburn beard. He sat with his feet propped up on the desk and his arms crossed over his chest.

"All right, Mr. Tembo, assemble your team."

Tembo unfolded his arms in half-surprise. "What? What about the Haddocks?"

Peter Ludlow smiled. "Now, now, Mr. Tembo. You and I both know that 'animal conservationists' and 'dragontologists' make terrible bounty hunters. I expect to get a call in a few days declining my 'generous offer.' In the mean time you and your team will go onto Site B and wrangle up some dragons to bring back here. Once the Haddocks see the dragons in our small cages, their bleeding hearts will be dying to take the 'poor defenseless creatures' off our hands."

"Won't they just release them back out into the wild?"

Peter Ludlow shook his head. "Animals kept in captivity for too long seldom can be released back out."

"And just how long are you planning on keeping the dragons before showing them to the Haddock National Conservation Zoo?"

"Not long at all. But injured animals need treatments. So the _Zoo_ will keep them for too long to release them back out to the wild," Peter replied.

Tembo laughed. "Oh, this is pure genius," to which Ludlow muttered his thanks. "Now about my fee. Don't worry about paying me. I just want a chance to hunt that Night Fury. Need to add its head to my collection of predators' heads on my wall."

"So you're in, then, Mr. Tembo?"

"Please, Peter. Call me Dagur."

* * *

The phone in Hammond's office let out an ear piercing ring. She picked it up, "Hello? Oh Dr. Haddock! What a pleasure to hear from you! How was your excursion to my Kenyan preserve last year? …What? …Oh, oh…who did you say it was? … Ludlow? God dammit! I really do hate that man," she muttered the last part under her breath.

Hammond ran her hand through grey hair and adjusted the phone against her ear. "I wonder. Dr. Haddock, would you mind coming in to see me? I will send a private chopper to pick you up. I fear that we may need some additional measures to stop BioSyn from taking the dragons off the islands and caging them up," Dr. Haddock gave her coordinates on the other end of the line for the chopper to pick her up. "Thank you, Dr. Haddock. I will be seeing you in a few hours. In the meantime I will assemble a small ground team to accompany you."

"Let's get one thing straight though, Joanna. Whoever else you assign to this mission to stop BioSyn, they need to know that we will not be tampering with the ecosystems on the islands. The best place for those animals is to stay isolated from mankind."

"Believe me, Dr. Haddock, I completely agree." After Joanna hung up, she pressed the intercom button, "Suzanne, get me Snotlout please. I need his alarmist expertise, stat."

 _Right away, ma'am,_ Suzanne said through the intercom.

* * *

Meanwhile, back on the Isle of Berk

Two years ago, the Night Fury tracked Hiccup and Astrid back to their dig site and the dragontologists made the decision to ask Hammond for permission to study the creatures on the island at close range. Hammond had eagerly agreed, hoping that their research and training of the dragons will allow InGen to reopen the park. This time, making it safer of course. Hammond did have two conditions, the group had to take the newly developed InGen satellite phones for communication emergencies. And they had to keep the dragons a secret until they had proven their training theories and had debunked all of their more dangerous characteristics. She didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time.

The group thought the satellite phones were a good idea, a good safety net to be exact, except that they were known for not always working fabulously. Even the top of the line phones didn't always pick up service.

Astrid and Hiccup had taken on Fishlegs as an intern two years ago, almost directly after the InGen incident at the park. Normally interns only stayed on for six months, but Fishlegs was such an asset to their _new_ line of work that they couldn't afford to lose him. After the initial six months they crunched the numbers and figured out a way to hire Fishlegs full time to be the official data recorder. As they studied the dragons on the Isle of Berk, Fishlegs wrote down all of their discoveries. It was all very exciting, a dream come true for all parties involved, to be honest.

Fishlegs hoped that in the upcoming years they would be able to publish their findings, maybe even the entire Book of Dragons, as he had affectionately nicknamed his leather bound book. But for now, working with the two biggest names in dragontology and having his very own Gronckle was sufficient enough for him.

Hiccup and Fishlegs sat around their campsite, where Fishlegs was furiously writing in the Book of Dragons and Hiccup had his satellite phone in pieces, trying to fix it. "Why are you taking the phone apart _again_?"

"She won't pick up. I'm worried. I wish Hammond had supplied us with better phones, not just prototypes. What if something happened to her?"

"To her? Really? I'd be more worried about you with your aerial stunts. She's fine. I think the only person who would be better in this situation alone than her would be your mother. And that's only because she's studied wild African predators for a good chunk of her research. And then spent several years in the oceans by Australia studying sharks." Hiccup raised a curious eyebrow. "What? You guys were my idols in undergrad. I did a lot of my own research outside of class." Hiccup pursed his lips together and gave Fishlegs a small, awkward nod before returning his attention to the satellite phone in his lap.

Astrid trudged up on their campsite and crossed her arms—she was sopping wet. "What happened to you?" Fishlegs asked.

"Put down in the Book of Dragons that Nadders are afraid of eels. One breached the surface of the river while Stormfly was drinking and I couldn't get her to calm down. She threw me into the river," Astrid tossed her satellite phone next to Hiccup. "Might need to fix that one too."

"Oh, heh," Hiccup laughed nervously. "I guess that's why you didn't answer the phone."

"Yeah, why did Hammond insist on _these_?" she pointed to the bright yellow phones.

Hiccup responded as he put his phone back together. "They're an InGen prototype. She wanted us to test them so we could vouch for it. I guess it makes sense, she lost a lot of money in this island because she can't open it to the public." He paused, looking at the dismembered phone in his lap. "But yeah, they're a great idea in theory. Not so much in practice."

"And she's spent a ton more money trying to keep it a secret from prying eyes," Fishlegs added. "Keeping people silent is very expensive."

Hiccup looked up briefly from his work. "Yeah," he agreed before popping the battery back into the phone. He turned the phone back on and it slowly booted up. "We should probably test to see if all of the dragons are scared of eels or if it's just the Sharp class of dragons."

"Agreed. Let's just not do it while we're on the backs of our dragons." Astrid took her hair out of the braid and wrung it out quickly before re-doing it into a simpler side braid. She then grabbed chunks of her shirt and began to wring out the water from it as well. She kicked her sopping wet sneakers off and let them dry in the sun. Stormfly padded over to her rider and nudged her apologetically with her snout. Astrid turned to the dragon, "It's okay, girl, I didn't realize how scared you were of eels. If it has been a shark I would've reacted the same way."

"Whoa the fearless Dr. Astrid Hofferson is afraid of something?" Fishlegs commented. Astrid shot him a glare.

"If you must know, Fishlegs. I watched my Uncle Finn get attacked by a Great White shark when I was only eight. He lost his hand, his foot and part of his calf, but the people in the ER thought he was going to die because of how much blood he lost. He lived, thankfully. I was in the water with him when he was attacked. So yeah, sharks wig me out, okay?"

"Wow," Fishlegs replied.

"And my mother still wants you to get into the shark tank with her," Hiccup laughed.

Astrid eyed Hiccup curiously, "Didn't your Uncle Gobber lose his hand to one of the sharks while they were doing research?"

Hiccup shook his head. "Nah he lost his foot while they were in Antarctica to frost bite. And his hand, he, uh, told me a different story every Snoggletog of what kind of vicious beast took it."

"Hmm, I'll leave the studying sharks up to her," Astrid petted Stormfly affectionately. She added, sarcastically, "I prefer studying creatures that can burn my flesh off my bones."

"Yeah, because studying animals that can just bite you to kill you is so totally safe," Hiccup said equally sarcastically.

[a/n] I hope you liked the first chapter. And yeah I changed the Flightmare to a great white shark. ;)


	2. Going to Site B

**Chapter Two: Going to Site B**

"Do you think these traps will work?" Ludlow asked as he inspected the large metal claws.

Dagur Temblo adjusted his hat. "Well they're built to take down wild rhinos so I think it will hold a dragon at least long enough for me to shoot it."

Ludlow's eyes widened. "Wait, we want the beasts alive."

Dagur chuckled, "Oh, Ludlow, my dear boy. You are so entertaining. I'm not going to shoot them with a pistol. Don't be deranged. I'm going to shoot them with a tranquilizer gun of course. Makes it easier to get them onto ships and into cages."

Ludlow let out a sigh of relief. He had heard many stories about Dagur Temblo, some of which were less flattering than others. Most people referred to him as "Dagur the Deranged," which did slightly worry Ludlow. Nevertheless, he was good at his…well job, if you counted poaching and hunting as a job, so Ludlow couldn't pass him by.

"…already sent a team…hey you're not even listening to me!" Dagur slammed his fist on the table in front of them, jolting Ludlow from his thoughts. Ludlow cleared his throat, apologized, and push his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Anyway, I'll repeat my question even though I loathe repeating myself. Do you think Hammond and InGen already sent a team?"

Ludlow shrugged and replied, "I doubt it. Even if they did, InGen's facility is much farther away from either island than BioSyn's facility so we'll still arrive first. Don't you worry."

Again Dagur chuckled. "Pity. We'll probably have the dragons all rounded up by the time Hammond's pathetic excuse for a team shows up. And I was so hoping for more of a challenge."

* * *

"Uh, do you really think this is a good idea?" Fishlegs called up to Hiccup and Toothless who were perched at the very top of a tall pine. The weight of the Night Fury and his rider bent the tree branches down slightly.

"Fishlegs, relax. It will be fine!" Hiccup reassured as he pointed towards the water. "Besides, we're doing it over water just in case it doesn't go correctly."

"I really think Astrid would disapprove of this stunt. Skydiving without a parachute doesn't seem safe," Fishlegs muttered. His Gronckle, whom he had named Meatlug, nudged his rider. Sje was equally concerned. "I know, girl. I tried to tell him. He's a bore-headed Viking though…"

Hiccup laughed. "It will be fine, Fishlegs. Live a little. Besides Astrid is practicing barrel turns with Stormfly, so it's not like she's doing _safer_ research."

"I highly doubt this counts as research!" Fishlegs crossed his arms defiantly.

Toothless growled lowly and shook his head in disapproval of Fishlegs' reaction. Silly human, thinking that he—a _Night Fury_ —wouldn't be able to catch Hiccup in time while they were plummeting through the air…Toothless' eyes widened. Wait, maybe the other human was right. He twisted his head quickly to slap Hiccup with the back of his ears.

"Ow, not you too, bud! C'mon, Toothless!" Hiccup patted his Night Fury's snout and encouraged the dragon to take off from the pine tree. The sudden loss of weight on the branches caused the pine to sling-shot in the other direction. It waggled back and forth in the air. Fishlegs watched as Hiccup and Toothless climbed higher and higher into the sky before disappearing into the fluffy clouds.

A few seconds passed and Hiccup finally appeared back into view, as he and his dragon dove head-first towards the ground. They were facing one another and Hiccup was no longer on his dragon's back. From the ground, Fishlegs covered his eyes with his hands, but peaked through the fingers at the adrenaline junkies above. Toothless pulled his wings close to him to help him accelerate more. He loved the head rush almost as much as Hiccup did. Hiccup rotated his pointer finger in the air, signaling to Toothless that he needed to position himself so that Hiccup could get onto his back once more.

The water was closing in on the pair as Toothless struggled to rotate in the air without opening his wings. The last time they did this, he accidentally slapped Hiccup with his wing while he was rotating and almost pushed him straight into a cliff. At least this time the Viking had learned from the previous mistakes and was attempting to do this over open water.

"C'mon, buddy, just a lil' bit further," Hiccup encouraged as he stretched out his arm. Toothless grunted, but managed to finally get his back towards his companion. Hiccup hoisted himself onto the dragon, a feat that look fairly simple from Fishlegs' viewpoint on the ground, but in reality was slightly difficult.

Hiccup pulled back on Toothless' shoulder blades and the Night Fury spread his wings into a parachute-like state to slow down their momentum. They hovered just above the water's surface and Toothless dipped his tailfin into the cool water. Hiccup threw both his arms above his head and let out a shout of joy. Toothless smiled and fired a playful plasma blast into the air. The blast exploded into fire and the pair flew right through it. "Oh, _come_ on!" Hiccup complained as the waning fire singed his hair.

* * *

Dr. Valka Haddock had been working with animals her entire life. She loved all creatures, but definitely had a certain affixation for the ones that could kill you. Before opening the Haddock National Conservation Zoo, she used to travel a lot and film nature documentaries with her good friend Gobber Van Owen. Gobber had been far less lucky on some of the early expeditions than she, having lost several limbs along the way.

Valka loved her work, and her husband Stoick supported it…most of the time. He had to admit that while their time spent together on the same continent was always wonderful, it was always, always too brief. But once their son Hiccup was born, Stoick had convinced her to stay in one place and convert her work from nature documentaries into helping at the local zoos. Eventually he funded her Zoo. The main mission of the Zoo, like any in the world, was conservation as well as education. Valka always hoped that by educating the general public about the animals in the Zoo, especially the more 'dangerous' ones, then they could lessen the number of species going extinct on this planet.

And now…now this Ludlow fellow was trying to remove dragons from their natural habitat on Hammond's island. She was sure that Ludlow and his BioSyn crew would not handle any of the animals with the care or compassion that they deserved. This had turned into the Zimbabwe poacher fiasco all over again. "Except this time we get to deal with dragons," Valka muttered under her breath.

"Eh?" Gobber raised an eyebrow.

Valka forced a small smile. "Nothing I was just thinking that this was going to be like our Zimbabwe adventure with the poachers. Just with dragons instead of rhinos."

"And 'opefully no snakes this time," Gobber replied as he reached into his pocket. "Brought a vial of anti-venom jest in case."

Valka nodded in half-approval. A moment of silence passed between the pair as they waited on the landing deck on the roof of the hospital for the InGen helicopter. "Gobber, please don't play with your fake teeth. It's unsettling," Valka said quietly. Gobber muttered an apology and stopped fiddling with his fake teeth for a brief moment before subconsciously repeating the action. Valka rolled her eyes but had no time to respond as she heard the whir of the helicopter approaching.

The ride to InGen's facility was not a long one and Joanna Hammond stood outside of the front doors to greet the pair. "Ah Dr. Haddock, Mr. Van Owen! I'm so glad you two could come on such short notice." She ushered the pair inside and led them towards the conference room.

Meanwhile, behind one of the filing cabinets the twins, Ruff and Tuff, peaked out. "Ruff, isn't that the crazy nature lady from the Discovery Channel?"

Ruff hit her brother upside the head, "Dummy, she was on Animal Planet."

"Whatever. Why is she here at Grandma's?"

Ruff shrugged. "I'unno. But her assistant always had unfortunate accidents happen. Remember when they were filming the penguins in Antarctica and his foot turned purple?"

Tuff's eyes lit up. "Yeah! Bet where ever they're going there's gonna be some more purple feet!"

Ruff nodded, "Probably, and maybe some dangerous animals too! C'mon." She motioned towards the duct system. After years and years of spending time with their grandmother while their mother was away for business, the twins had learned the InGen building like the back of their hands. They quickly crawled through the ventilation system and waited above the conference room to eavesdrop on the conversation below.

Hammond motioned for the pair to take a seat at the conference table across from herself and another young man. The man was Hiccup's age, give or take. Valka eyed him curiously, having the faint feeling of déjà vu. "This here is Snotlout. He was my man gamekeeper on my Kenya preserve, and he was part of my team on the Isle of Berk. Though we were working with a different type of 'game' to keep, eh?" Snotlout shot Hammond a glare. "Okay, so, not funny."

"So you created dragons for your amusement park?" Valka crossed her arms over her chest. She was less than impressed with the biological engineering.

"It was meant to be more of a biological preserve. It was meant to make the one I have in Kenya look like a petting zoo. Anyway, long story short, we made some calculation errors and our Red Death went rogue, controlling all of the dragons to wreak havoc on the park. Once Hiccup destroyed the Red Death…"

"You dragged my son into this?"

"He is the top mind in his field, of course I brought him on to survey the park," Hammond stated, matter-of-factly.

"Is he okay?"

"He's no worse for the wear than Mr. Van Owen here," Hammond replied. Upon hearing his name, Gobber stopped fiddling with the rather expensive glass figurines on Hammond's table and clasped his hands together, guiltily. Valka and Joanna looked at Gobber, incredulously. Hammond then continued, "Anyway, I didn't have the heart to kill all of the dragons after the incident, so I've been funneling money into research projects, conservations efforts, and an enforcement team to keep them on the island." All of what Hammond said was true, of course; however, she had elected to leave out that these seemingly three distinct teams were all made up of the same three people: Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs.

"Why wouldn't yer enforcement team jest kee' BioSyn away?" Gobber asked.

"Because they're on Site A and everyone in the media only knows about Site A. The cover story is that we destroyed all of the dragons on Site A, so naturally there would be no reason for Ludlow to want to go to that island. BioSyn plans to go to Site B."

The information finally clicked for Snotlout. He slammed his fists on the table, "Wait you mean there's TWO islands full of deadly dragons?"

"Yes, but this one doesn't have a Red Death on it, so it should be fine. Hiccup already proved that we could train the dragons…"

"Hiccup did what?"

"He flew a Night Fury to battle the Red Death. I was on a Monstrous Nightmare," Snotlout explained in a bored tone, while studying his nailbeds.

"A Night Fury?"

"Yeah, big deal. Anyway I'm glad you're hung up on that fact when we just learned that Hammond created TWO islands full of dragons that could incinerate all of San Francisco if BioSyn gets there!"

Hammond forced a small smile and exhaled through her nose. "You'll have to forgive Snotlout. He's a bit of an alarmist sometimes. We're going to take extra precautions. I don't want to make the same mistakes as last time."

"Oh no, you're making a whole new set of mistakes. You're going to send people onto Site B, no fences this time, and just _hope_ it all goes swimmingly." Snotlout said as he stormed out.

"Where dya suppose he's goin'?"

Hammond rolled her eyes. "Like I said. He's a bit of an alarmist sometimes. He really is worth the expense though, top of his field. Now then, let's actually brief you two on what I'd like you to do." Hammond handed a hefty packet to each of them. "That's a detailed description of all of the dragons on the island as well as schematics of the Control Room Bunker," Hammond began to lead Valka and Gobber towards the cargo bay to show them all of the equipment they would have.

The twins exchanged glances and smiled. They hurried back through the duct system and snuck into the cargo bay. They lay in wait to see what vehicles the group was going to take. This was going to be their most epic adventure yet.

[a/n] Sorry it took me so long to update. Anyway hope you enjoyed it. And if you couldn't guess, Tuff and Ruff are playing the part of Kelly Malcolm. ;)


	3. Dragon Training

Chapter Three:

"Hiccup! Astrid!" Fishlegs called from behind the camper. Hiccup and Astrid came rushing out at the sound of strain in Fishlegs' voice. Much to their surprise, they saw Fishlegs standing in front of several odd objects: a knife, a spare tire, a rubber duck and Hiccup's prototype for a saddle for Toothless. In his hands he held several papers. Perched on top of Fishlegs' head was a green Terrible Terror.

"What's all the hubbabaloo about?" Hiccup asked. Astrid tried to stifle a giggle at Hiccup's choice of wording. Her boyfriend shot her a glare and made a mental note to not add that particular word to his daily vocabulary. Apparently it was only cool when the young interns said it, not when the old dragontologist did.

"Meet Iggy." Hiccup and Astrid were less than impressed. "I've been training him. Terrible Terrors are really quite smart. I noticed that when they're in packs they can be quite mischievous and I figured that in order to be mischievous you…"

"Have to have at least half a brain," Astrid interrupted. "Yes, yes. Now _why_ did you scream so frantically like the dragon was attacking you?"

Fishlegs blushed. "Well actually. Iggy wasn't attacking me but watch. He shuffled the papers in his hands and instructed Hiccup to pick one: it was a picture of the rubber duck. "Now show the picture to Iggy." Hiccup raised a suspicious eyebrow but shrugged and showed the picture to the Terrible Terror. "Iggy bring me that!" Fishlegs commanded in the most authoritative voice he could muster.

The Terrible Terror tilted its green head, licked its eyeball once and then flew off towards the objects. It picked up the rubber duck in its front paws and dropped it at Fishlegs' feet. "Aww what a good boy! Who's the smartest lil' dragon around? That's right, you are!" Fishlegs cooed at the Terrible Terror.

Astrid leaned over to Hiccup, "Y'know if Fishlegs wasn't creeping me out right now by ogling over the Terrible Terror I would be impressed by this trick."

"Can we pick another one?" Hiccup asked. As a scientist he always wanted to make sure he could replicate results. Couldn't have it be a fluke in his research findings. Fishlegs nodded, reshuffled the cards and let Hiccup choose. This time Hiccup chose the spare tire. "Iggy, bring me this!" Hiccup commanded.

Again the Terrible Terror tilted his head, licked his eyeball and flew off towards the objects. He landed on top of the spare tire and tried with all his might to lift it off the ground. After a few moments of trying the Terrible Terror flew back onto Fishlegs and hid in his brown hood. "It's okay, Iggy. That tire probably weighs more than you. You can still have a treat for picking the right object."

"Well, the Terrors can be trained like little Terriers," Astrid said. "Better put that in the book of dragons because without that they're about as useful as seagulls and just as irritating."

"You mean you don't like their singing to wake you up as the sun rises majestically over the horizon of the Isle of Berk?" Hiccup winked and Astrid forced a small smile.

* * *

Valka leaned over the edge of the railing of the boat as the island came into view. She pointed excitedly at the heavily forested terrain. "Look, Gobber! I haven't been this excited since we were researching in Antarctica!"

From the barrel where he sat, Gobber forced a small smile. "Le's hope I don' lose any limbs this time though."

"Got your anti-venom?" Valka smiled over her shoulder and Gobber scowled at her. "C'mon Gobber. It's gonna be just like old times. Minus the scripts and the camera crew."

"Valka, we aren't jest filming these creatures. We are sabotagin' BioSyn's attempts at capturing them," Gobber pointed out. "How similar dya think their traps will be to the poachers' traps in Zimbabwe?"

Valka planted her feet back on the ground, walked over to Gobber and sat next to him on a nearby barrel. "Well considering dragons haven't existed since the time of actual Vikings…"

"Hey now! You and I both 'ave pure Viking blood, y'know!"

Valka pursed her lips into a small smile. "Yes, what I meant was that Vikings and dragons haven't existed together in thousands of years. So I'm sure they've just made the traps bigger. There is a black market for poachers, y'know."

"Val, you have t' consider that they might _not_ have made those traps bigger. They might jest go with rhino or elephant traps. Poachers rarely are humane in their efforts. An' this man, Dagur, they called him 'Dagur the Deranged'. We are gonna to have our work cut out fer us. I don' think this is going t' be like old times but minus the camera crew."

Valka sighed. "Well at least you'll get a good Snoggletog story out of it."

Gobber laughed. "I don't fink I've gotten Hiccup t' believe any of my stories in a long time, Val. He's too bright of a kid. Takes afta ya…the both o' ya."

Valka smiled. She picked up the briefing packets that Hammond had given them and idly flipped through them. As she paged through something caught her eye: on several of the pages for the dragons there was a stamp across their picture that labeled the dragon _Trainable._ She flipped through several more pages…the Hobblegrunt, Gronckle, Night Fury, all had those red stamps. The next dragon, however, the Changewing, did not. She skimmed over the information on the Changewing. At the bottom it read: _Trainability status currently unknown. Awaiting further research from team._

* * *

As Hammond sat in the private cafeteria in the InGen office she checked her watch. The private cafeteria was slightly smaller than the main one, but it still fit two conference style tables. She sat at the head of the table closest to the entranceway with her back to the door. A lush dinner of chicken, assorted vegetables and rice lay on the table in front of her, though she had barely touched it.

Hammond checked her watch again and furrowed her brow. The twins were running late for dinner. And by late, they were over an hour late, and that was what struck her as odd. Usually the twins came barreling in about ten or fifteen minutes after dinner had started. The only other time they had been this late Ruff had coming running into the room covered in mud screaming about how Tuff was going to die and it wasn't her fault. Truth be told it was a little bit her fault, but that was neither here nor there.

Still, Hammond kept checking the door behind her hoping to see a glimpse of one of her grandkids. Both would be preferable, of course, but since they were this late for dinner she could only imagine what they had gotten themselves into this time. Slowly she rose from her seat and pressed the intercom button on the wall. The voice on the other line responded cordially, "Yes ma'am?"

"I wonder, Suzanne, have you seen my grandchildren lately? They are very late for dinner and their mother should be arriving soon to pick them up." Hammond released the button and awaited the response from the other line.

There was brief silence on the other line. The intercom button rang and Suzanne spoke again, "Uh, no ma'am and I just asked the others here at the front. No one has seen them anywhere on the premises since lunch."

Hammond pinched the bridge of her nose. _One of these days I'm going to inject a tracker into those two. Then I can at least use satellites to find their whereabouts._ Hammond sighed and pressed the intercom button again, "Is there any unusual movement in the air ducts?"

Another moment of silence. Then Suzanne replied solemnly, "No ma'am."

"Where could they have gone?" Hammond whispered to herself. She then pressed the button one final time. "I wonder, Suzanne, can you get Snotlout back in please?"

"Of course, ma'am. Though I must warn you: he left in quite a tizzy." At that particular description Hammond frowned and silently mouthed the word 'tizzy' to herself. "But I will send him straight away. To the conference room or the cafeteria?"

"Conference room, if you please."

"Yes ma'am." Hammond thanked her and made her way across the hall to the conference room.

Not five minutes later, Snotlout barreled through the door of the conference. "I told you, a whole new set of mistakes," Snotlout said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now your little field expedition has turned into a rescue mission."

"How do you mean, Snotlout?" Though Hammond had a pretty good hunch what Snotlout was hinting at…and she was hoping that he was wrong.

"Duh! Isn't it obvious? Your two crazed, adventure-seeking grandkids are probably halfway to Site B by now. Because you couldn't build just ONE island full of fire breathing reptiles, you had to build _two_. And then, you've made more enemies than friends in the past decade, so now one of your major competitors is trying to hijack your entire island! And why are you grandkids here all the time anyway? Whole new set of mistakes! I told you, we should have actually sent out the poison after the first incident. But did you listen to lil' ol' Snotlout? No, of course not! Because he has 'alarmist behaviors'."

"Calm down, Snotlout. We'll figure this out," Hammond said, optimistically, to which Snotlout merely scoffed. "And not that it is any of your business but my daughter is going through a nasty divorce, so my grandkids have been staying with me."

A moment passed between them. Snotlout scanned the room and pointed to the air ducts. "Do you think they fit in those?" Hammond shrugged, it was a definite possibility. The twins were teenagers, but both were on the better side of scraggly. "I bet that they saw your fancy new guests today and decided to eavesdrop. I'd be willing to bet my pay that they're on the boat with Valka Haddock and Gobber Van Owen."

Hammond bit her lip. This was a disaster. And what was worse: Snotlout was right! She had made a whole new set of mistakes. And now she was endangering her grandkids. She didn't think the dragons would hurt them, but she couldn't be so sure about the BioSyn team. "You are right and I'm totally wrong. I've not learned from my mistakes and no I'm not repeating old ones, but I've still endangered people's lives for these islands. There I said it. Bet you never thought you'd hear those words come out of my mouth."

"No I didn't think I'd hear you say that, Joanna," Snotlout paused. "What do you want me to do?"

"Bring back my grandkids."

Snotlout nodded. "What are you going to tell their mother?"

Hammond shrugged. "I'll stall for you until you've returned them safely here. That's the one good thing about this messy divorce that my daughter is going through: she won't say no to letting the kids stay another night with their favorite Grandma."

"I'm going to need backup."

"Anything you want."

"Hiccup."

"Done."

[a/n] I am so sorry for the long wait. My personal and professional life got really busy. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter.


	4. Ruff and Tuff

**Chapter Four: Ruff and Tuff**

After dropping Valka and Gobber off, the ship's captain warned them that this string of islands was nicknamed "Las Cinco Muertes," which Gobber had translated to the Five Deaths. The captain said that he would not wait even off shore of the island for fear of the stories he had heard. He gave them a radio signal to call for when they needed to be rescued and he would rendezvous with them within a half hour. He left promptly.

"Rescued," Valka scoffed as she set up some of their supplies. "These are magnificent creatures worthy of protection and studying. I'm sure they're intelligent and gentle to boot. They probably only attacked Vikings when they were provoked, like most dangerous animals today."

"Valka, you and yer deadly animal obsession."

Valka chose to ignore Gobber's comment, being used to his off-handed humor. "C'mon, let's scout a bit. See what's in store." She grabbed her camera as well as a staff that had been given to her by one of the tribes in Zimbabwe. The staff was crucial in undoing poacher's traps without harming anyone. It didn't look like BioSyn had arrived yet, but it was a big island, so she couldn't be too careful. Gobber switched out his normal prosthetic hand for a hard metal one—easier to disarm the traps as well as self-defense. As usual, Valka scouted ahead, moving with an almost acrobatic ease through the dense brush. Since their adventure in Zimbabwe, the staff had become almost part of her being when she traveled as though it were an extension of her body that allowed her to gracefully cruise through the dense foliage. Gobber felt a little odd not carrying a video camera with him and not having her look back every ten or so steps to tell the audience what was happening.

Suddenly, Valka stopped. Slowly she placed her staff on the ground and pulled the camera from around her neck. From her crouched position she began to focus the camera on the adolescent Gronckle in front of her. She smiled broadly and snapped a picture. Unfortunately, she had forgotten that the new age cameras automatically set the flash on when the lighting wasn't quite right. The sudden bright light startled the young Gronckle who cried out for its parents.

"Sweet baby Thor in a thunder storm," Gobber swore as he watched the angry parents and the rest of the pack hover towards Valka. _You'd think after all of these years she'd remember to check for a flash first. Ah well, excitement is getting' the best of 'er again._

Valka slowly backed away from the scene as the adult Gronckles hovered closer. They emitted a low growl and fired a warning shot at Valka's feet. She quickly, perhaps too quickly for the Gronckles' liking, snatched up her staff and continued to back away. She called over her shoulder to Gobber, "Look at this! Parental instincts! The pack is protecting their baby!"

"Yes I see. Welp, you betta get outta there quick or else Stoick'll have my head for not protecting _his baby_."

Valka didn't have time to process Gobber's quip as the Gronckles fired another shot, much closer to her this time. She glanced around and quickly dove into a nearby fallen tree trunk. She covered her head, preparing for the worst. But it never came. Tentatively she uncovered her head and peaked out of the hollowed trunk to see Gobber standing completely awestruck. Valka crawled out from the trunk, brushed herself off and grabbed her staff before standing next to Gobber to see what he was staring at.

"Why did they leave? What happened?"

"Dunno. Hard t' say. It's like somet'ing _called_ them off. Their eyes dilated to slits an' they robotically hovered away."

Valka hummed. She turned on her heel to survey more of the area and to her dismay…"Oh my gods! Fire, Gobber! At our campsite!" Valka pointed above the tree line. She took off running towards their camper, and Gobber hobbled behind—his prosthetic hindering his running slightly. Even after all of these years of having it, it could still sometimes be a pain in the butt when it came to situations like this.

"Who're _they_?" Valka asked, gesturing to the two blond teenagers that were wrestling one another for the cooking utensils. "BioSyn? But they're just kids." Gobber didn't concern himself with their identities, instead he threw sand onto the flames to put them out quickly.

Ruff finally wretched the ladle from Tuff's hands and smashed her brother over the head with it. Ruff shot to her feet and saluted Valka and Gobber, using the ladle instead of just her hand. "Lex 'Ruff' Thorston reporting for duty."

"Ha you said 'doody'. Ow! OW!" Tuff complained as his sister smacked him over the head. "My name's Timmy but everybody calls me Tuff. So I'm Tuff Thorston." Valka eyed the twins curiously.

"What exactly are you doing? And why are you here? How did you even get here?"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Tuff complained from his position on the ground, displaying his palms openly at Valka. "One question at a time, missy."

"We're cooking enough eggs for everyone 'cause we were hungry."

"Burnt enough fer everyone is more like it," Gobber muttered. Gobber switched his metal prosthetic arm back to his normal fiber glass one.

Suddenly the names and the faces clicked for Valka. "What are you two doing here? Why would Hammond send her _grandkids_ along for this?" Valka asked Gobber over her shoulder.

Tuff stood up and proudly said, "Oh Grandma didn't send us per-se. It was more of a rouge mission to sneak aboard and see more dragons."

Valka blinked slowly in disbelief: the twins had snuck aboard on this crazy mission to disarm BioSyn and protect the dragons at all costs. And Hammond didn't know. Gobber, being used to mischievous pranks and disobedience of the simplest orders after having watched after Hiccup for many years, immediately took the reins of the situation and used one of the satellite phones to try to call Hammond. All he received was static for a while and then a startled, nasally "Hello" on the other line.

"Hiccup?"

* * *

"How did you get this number?" Hiccup asked through the satellite phone. "Wait, what? Say it again, these phones are terrible. Gobber? Gobber? Can you hear me now?" Hiccup rolled his eyes at the stupid prototype.

Astrid perked up upon hearing the familiar name. Fishlegs leaned in, clearly interested in the new development as well. He nudged Astrid and silently asked whom Hiccup was talking with. Astrid explained quickly, "His crazed one-armed, one-legged uncle. He used to work with Valka on the nature documentaries."

"You mean Gobber Van Owen? _The_ Gobber Van Owen!" Fishlegs said excitedly. Hiccup waved his hand dismissively and then cupped it over his free ear, trying desperately to hear what Gobber was saying on the other line. To make matters worse, a helicopter hovered overhead.

"That's strange," Astrid commented. "The chopper sounds really close. They don't usually fly this close."

Hiccup threw the phone across the camper in frustration. "I lost him. All I could make out was something about dragons and my mom and the zoo. None of it made sense. I'm going to make Hammond new phones during our break for Snoggletog. This is ridiculous."

Just then the camper door swung open and Snotlout sauntered in. "You two. Oh, and I guess you as well," he all but dismissed Fishlegs, "You're coming with me. We're on a rescue mission to Site B to pick up Hammond's grandkids."

"Site B?"

"Yeah, long story. More dragons, Hammond's an optimist, which is code for 'she's an idiot and likes to find creative ways to kill people!' Look I'll explain on the way. The helicopter pilot doesn't like being grounded on the island for longer than he has to. Let's go."

Hiccup shook his head. "We'll come, but I'm not leaving Toothless behind, especially not if we have to do what I think we have to do."

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Fine. We'll be Dragon Riders again. Find me a Monstrous Nightmare and then we need to go."

Hiccup smirked. "Well, it just so happens that there has been a Nightmare hanging around the campsite for the past few weeks. We've nicknamed him Hookfang."

"Hook…fang?"

"One of his fangs on his bottom jaw is crooked," Astrid explained. "C'mon he'll be perfect for you. He's got a nasty lil' temper and I think he's his own breed of alarmist." Snotlout muttered under his breath that he was "not an alarmist" and followed the dragontologists outside.

As the group stepped outside of the camper they were greeted with an extremely excited Night Fury. Toothless hated when the humans hung out inside the camper because he couldn't fit. He wanted to make sure that his overeager, one-legged human was safe. Especially since Toothless knew what kinds of stunts Hiccup liked to try while riding him, he couldn't be too sure that Hiccup wouldn't try something equally as daring without Toothless.

[a/n] Hope you're still enjoying it. I can't wait for the Rex/camper scene...but that's a few chapters out ;)


	5. Dagur the Deranged

**Chapter Five:**

Dagur stood on the bow of the ship, holding on with his left arm as he leaned over to glance at the island as it came into view. He laughed maniacally and called over his shoulder to his sea-sick partner. "Look at it, Ludlow! Isn't it beautiful? And just think about all of the dragons just waiting for me to shoot them down…"

"…with tranquilizers," Ludlow managed before throwing up again over the side of the ship.

Dagur hopped from his perch on the bow of the ship and slapped his hand on Ludlow's shoulder, which caused Ludlow to wretch again. Dagur didn't even notice Ludlow's plight. "We talked about this, my memory-challenged friend. The only dragon I get to shoot to kill is the Night Fury."

He walked past several traps and smiled. "These bad boys are going to do all the hard work anyway. Pity, too…I haven't had a chance to shoot anything in such a long time. It almost itches now. I can feel it."

Wearily, Ludlow peered up at Dagur. Everything he had heard about the poacher had been correct so far. He just hoped that Dagur would keep his word and _only_ shoot the Night Fury. The dragons would be no good to BioSyn if they were dead. That would throw the whole plan out of whack.

As the ship approached the shoreline, the captain slowed the engines. Dagur pushed several mugs off the table on deck and told his men to gather around it. He lay a map of the island—one that Ludlow had stolen from the InGen's database—onto the tabletop. "Okay you half-wits. Listen up. I want traps here, here, and here. The bigger traps go closer to middle of the island—that's where the bigger dragons will be."

"Actually, sir," one of the dragontologists from Berkeley University piped up. Dagur, not liking to be interrupted, screamed, grabbed one of the discarded mugs from the ground and hurled it at the poor graduate student. "Um, the bigger dragons are more likely to be closer to the shore or the safari plains."

Dagur narrowed his eyes and consented to the change of plan. "Fine, set the bigger traps there." He stepped towards the dragontologist. He grabbed the dragontologist's shirt collar and hoisted him off of the ground. "If you interrupt me, you had better be right. No one interrupts Dagur." The dragontologist gulped and nodded in understanding. He then turned to the group and shouted, "Well? Why are you all standing here? Get moving! These traps don't set themselves up."

As the men scurried about, Dagur forcefully grabbed two of them by the collars of their shirts. He pushed them towards the stern of the ship. He pointed, "You see that gents? It's a High-Hide," as he explained, he presented the map of the island once more. "I want it to go right here. And it's your lucky job to make sure it's in place." The men nodded. "Good then meet us back at the campsite."

Once Dagur was out of ear-shot the one man said to the other, "What's a High-Hide?"

The second man pointed and sighed, "A High-Hide. You know? You go up high and then you hide? A High-Hide."

The first man raised an eyebrow, "Seems like that would put you in perfect position for the dragons to eat you…"

"Dragons don't' eat humans. They just burn them to a crisp," Dagur stated as he approached the pair again. "Now, remind me, gents…did I ask for you to debate what a High-Hide was or did I ask you to set it up?" Dagur all-but screamed the last bit and then men hurried off with the High-Hide.

* * *

Hiccup, Astrid and Fishlegs flew their dragons with ease, while Snotlout trailed behind them on his Monstrous Nightmare. The dragon was extremely stubborn, and unfortunately, hadn't gotten the proper time to bond with Snotlout just yet. "You bore-headed dragon, can't you fly any faster?" Snotlout complained.

Toothless' ears perked up and his eyes dilated briefly into slits. Hiccup, sensing the change in behavior of his dragon, patted Toothless on the head, "What's going on, bud?" Toothless shook his head and squinted his eyes shut. Upon opening them his pupils returned to their normal round shape. Hiccup furrowed his brow, "Okay, that was weird."

Fishlegs hadn't noticed the behavior. He pointed excitedly towards the island. "Look. There's Site B! I wonder if there are different dragon species on this island than on ours…."

"Why would there be different dragons on this island? It's all Hammond's stuff!" Snotlout pointed out, and Fishlegs' heart sank a little. He as hoping to study more species of dragons that he had read about or seen fossils of at the University of Berkeley.

"We should circle the island, see if we can find where your uncle set up camp with the twins," Astrid suggested. "This way we won't land in Speed Stinger or Changewing territory."

"Oh I hope that the twins don't find anymore Changewing eggs and mistake them for 'stones of good fortune.' I wouldn't wish that misadventure on Gobber Van Owen," Fishlegs muttered, mostly to himself.

Hiccup agreed with Astrid's plan and the group flew the dragons around the island before finding the campsite. Hiccup and Astrid landed with their dragons with ease and grace. Fishlegs maneuvered his Gronckle to hover a few inches above the ground before landing as well. Hiccup dismounted and then chivalrously helped Astrid to dismount from her dragon. Snotlout crash landed onto the ground with his Monstrous Nightmare. "Is this _your_ first time flying? I don't think so, Hookfang! You should have taken the reigns on this one and landed yourself. I can't be responsible for everything, despite what Hammond thinks."

Snotlout's shouts drew the attention of Valka and Gobber, who both hurried out of the camper to greet the group. Several hugs, introductions and brief explanations later, Valka was oogling over the dragons in front of her. "How did you manage?"

"When we were on the first island the Red Death went rouge and rolled one of the Jeeps onto my leg. Toothless took an interest in my poor forsaken soul and kinda rescued me."

"Toothless?" Valka asked.

"Show her, bud."

Toothless sniffed the air in Valka's direction and finding no ill-willed odor, he retracted his teeth. Valka gasped, excitedly. "Retractable teeth! Hiccup, this is incredible!" Valka stretched out her hand, palm open and let Toothless come to her. He nuzzled his nose against her open palm and she smiled. "What have you learned so far? Are you going to publish your works? What about the dig site?"

"Oh, yes all the pleasantries. That's how all this starts, but later there's running and screaming and dying and fire," Snotlout complains at the reunion.

"Snotlout you really are an alarmist," Astrid says. "Everything is going to be fine. Hiccup and I have been working with the dragons for several years now. And Dr. Haddock has been working with dangerous wildlife her entire career…"

"Dr. Haddock? Will you ever call her Valka?" Hiccup joked.

"When we're married, maybe. Until then, formalities, Hiccup," Astrid replied.

As much as Valka wanted Astrid to be her new daughter-in-law, she knew that now was not the time to pressure Hiccup into proposing. The dragons were in danger. "I didn't know Hammond bred Night Furies. It wasn't one of the dragons that Hammond had in the briefing pamphlet she sent us with."

"Mo'e like an encyclopedia tha' a pamphlet if ya ask me," Gobber complained. "It wasn't a' concise a' the Dragon Manual I gave Hiccup a few Snoggletogs ago."

"Wait, Hammond sent you with a pamphlet of info on the dragons?"

"Well ya. How else wouldja expect us to know how to approach th' dragons t' save 'em from BioSyn's traps?" Gobber replied.

"Why is BioSyn trying to trap the dragons anyway?" Astrid wondered aloud. "Most of the species are territorial and don't migrate so it's not like they're a threat to modern society."

"BioSyn contacted me about adding dragons to the Zoo to help bring in more revenue," Valka said.

"What? I thought BioSyn was just going to take DNA samples from the dragons and try to create their own 'Isle of Berk' attraction! Which is a bad idea in itself," Snotlout said. "Taking dragons _off_ this island to be caged in a zoo is the _worst_ idea in the history of bad ideas!"

"Yes. So Gobber and I are here to stop them. We are going to disarm the traps but Hammond's grandkids snuck aboard so now we have that to deal with."

"Where are they now?" Fishlegs asked.

"In the camper, asleep."

"Did you put tranqulizers in them?" Valka shook her head. Fishlegs and Snotlout exchanged worried glances. "If it's one thing I've learned from working for Hammond for so long it's that her grandkids don't sleep unless they're 150% exhausted. Sneaking aboard a ship hardly qualifies." Snotlout rushed to the camper, threw open the door to reveal…nothing. No twins.

Hiccup jumped onto Toothless and held his hand out for Valka. She took it and climbed aboard the Night Fury. Astrid followed suit, offering her hand for Gobber, who politely declined. "I think I'll drive the camper. Best t' 'ave at least one person on the ground searchin' too."

Hiccup nodded. "Okay, Astrid you take the northern section. Fishlegs take the West. My mom and I will take the East and Snotlout you go South. If you see any BioSyn people, use your dragons to try to scare them off. Meet back here in one hour."

"And now the running and screaming and dying and fire…" Snotlout muttered.

"Snotlout!" Hiccup said. "Can we just get the twins back before the 'dying and fire' part?"

"On it. C'mon, Hookfang."

[a/n]I am sorry for the delay. Chapters will be coming along slowly but surely. My real life has been getting in the way recently, but I have not forgotten about this! I hope you enjoyed it!


	6. All-You-Can-Eat People Buffet

**Chapter Six:**

"Anything?" Hiccup asked as the rest of the group as the dragon riders and their dragons came into view. Solemnly all shook their head. Hiccup rolled his eyes, "Great. Well now what?"

"Why don' you lot land yer dragons so we can all properly chat?" Gobber shouted up to the group. Hiccup nodded and landed. This time, Snotlout's landing was far more graceful, although it wasn't terribly difficult to be more graceful than the first landing attempt. He muttered his half-thanks towards Hookfang. "Now what?"

"We keep searching until we find the twins."

"Are y' outta yer mind? They're probably burnt to a crisp by now."

Valka rolled her eyes. "Please don't treat me like I'm a helpless, Gobber. I've been working around predators since I was twenty years old. Lions, hyenas, jackals, Stoick. They're obsessively territorial and those territories are all in the interior of the island. The only other place they'll hunt is on the game trails. If we stay away from both we should be fine."

"Somehow, I don't think Ruff and Tuff will be staying away from either. Danger kinda follows them."

"And I'm sure that BioSyn isn't going to stay off the game trails either," Astrid said from her perch on top of her Nadder.

"Well then we'll just have to be sure to stay downwind," Valka replied.

Hiccup said, "Having a Night Fury on our side can't hurt either. Right, bud?" Toothless glanced up at Hiccup, retracted his teeth and smiled. "You're getting better at that smile every time, bud."

In the distance they could hear the rumble of engines. The dragons were unsettled by the noise. "Hiccup, do you hear that?" Hiccup nodded and climbed onto Toothless. They took off towards the sound and Astrid and Fishlegs followed closely behind. Snotlout complained but joined the group in the sky as well.

Valka and Gobber climbed into the camper and set off towards the sound as well. While Gobber drove he noted, "Hiccup is very mobile on his new leg, Val. He's a stronger Viking than Stoick gives him credit for. Took me ages to get back onto my feet after losing my leg in Antarctica."

Valka replied, "He's young and spry. Children bounce back faster than adults, Gobber."

"He's hardly a…"

Before he could finish, Valka shushed him, pointing out the window. "They taken cover in the trees. They must have spotted something. Kill the engines, we'll continue on foot."

Meanwhile…

Ludlow, Dagur and his men were in Jeeps traveling down the game trail. The drove through herds of Hobblegrunts, Stormcutters and Gronckles. All of the dragons flew down the path of the game trail, most alongside the Jeeps. Over the radio, Ludlow said, "Alright let's set up camp here. I want it up and running in thirty minutes."

"Cancel that order!" Dagur shouted and Ludlow immediately questioned him as to why. Dagur rolled his eyes and explained through gritted teeth, "This is a game-trail, carnivores hunt on game trails. Do you want to set up camp or an all-you-can-eat people buffet?"

Above them a white dragon flew, spewing ice rather than fire. It was a juvenile and Dagur smiled wickedly, knowing the old legends of the size and ferocity of the baby dragon's grown form. It would grow to be a Class 10 Leviathan. Dagur turned to Ludlow and said, "Listen, Ludlow, if you want me to run your little camping trip there are two condition. First, I'm in charge. Your job is to sign the checks, tell us we're doing a good job and open your case of scotch when we have a good day. Second condition, my fee…you can keep it. I want to hunt that Night Fury and THAT instead."

"Why would you want that dragon?" Ludlow asked.

"Because it's a Bewilderbeast. It's an alpha," Dagur replied. "And I'm not going to hunt that particular dragon but its parents." Ludlow still didn't entirely understand but he agreed to the new bargain anyway. Not having to pay Dagur's paycheck in exchange for him hunting just two dragons seemed like a fair trade to Ludlow. Dagur barked orders into the walkies for his men to tranquilize several of the dragons as they ran and flew down the game trail. The dragons were startled by the sound of the engines, but none of them wanted to scatter as they knew there was safety in numbers.

The team shot down several dragons as the Vikings watched from their perches in the trees with horrified faces. "I told you that BioSyn wasn't going to stay off the game trails," Astrid muttered as she crossed her arms.

"Could this possibly get any worse?" Fishlegs asked.

"Uh, unfortunately it can," Hiccup commented, dryly. He pointed on the game trail to two scraggly blondes running alongside of the Hobblegrunts and Gronckles. "All righty, who wants to rescue the twins before they get themselves killed?"

"Don't look at me. I did my time rescuing the twins on the last island. Somebody else takes this one," Fishlegs said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Sounds like somebody is scared," Snotlout jeered.

As Snotlout and Fishlegs argued, Astrid took it upon herself to rescue the twins. She hopped onto Stormfly's back and flew around the back to the pack of dragons. She crossed her legs around Stormfly's neck and swung herself upside down. She reached out and grabbed Ruff by her shirt collar and hoisted her onto Stormfly's back. Stormfly made a second pass around the herd of dragons and the Jeeps and Astrid reached for Tuff. Tuff decided to be more daring and attempted to jump onto the dragon's back on his own. He tripped and smashed his face into Stormfly's wing. The dragon squawked and Astrid rolled her eyes. She reached out and grabbed Tuff, "Couldn't you make this a lil' easier for me?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Tuff replied.

His sister naturally backed him up, "Yeah, and if he made it easy for you then there wouldn't be any blood coming out of his nose. No blood, no glory."

"That's the Viking way," Tuff agreed.

Astrid growled and made a motion to strangle the twins but restrained herself. "Just stay on the damned dragon until we get back to the camper."

Snotlout watched the entire scene with awe. "Hey Hiccup, Astrid is pretty, uh, pretty tenacious."

"You have no idea," Hiccup replied.

The Vikings were preoccupied with rescuing the twins that they hadn't noticed the Jeep with Dagur and Ludlow veer off of the game trail in pursuit of the juvenile Bewilderbeast. They stopped the Jeep at the edge of the brush, and continued on foot. They cornered the white dragon, covered in burr-like spikes. There were two small bumps its face. Of course the tusks would grow larger and more deadly as the baby matured, but for now they were merely decorative. Dagur fired a single shot into the dragon's wing, and the poor animal collapsed onto the ground. The Bewilderbeast whined in pain and fear as Dagur the Deranged approached it.

Dagur laughed maniacally. As his laughter subdued, he jabbed the butt of his gun into the baby's back leg, breaking it. Dagur pulled his walkie out of his pocket and said, "I need some chains and one of the choppers to fly this creature out. And make it snappy! I don't like waiting."

"I don't understand," Ludlow said as he glanced at the injured dragon. "I thought you wanted to kill the Bewilderbeast and the Night Fury. I thought that was your fee."

Dagur clasped his hand on Ludlow's shoulder. "Oh my fine fellow. The baby is not what I'm after. It's the adult that I want. And what better way to lure it to me than have its injured baby call for it?"

"Why don't you just wait for it here? It looks like it's a nest. Shouldn't the mother return shortly to feed it?"

"The nest is upwind. I'd be a sitting duck. You don't want me to be a sitting duck now do you?" Dagur replied and Ludlow shook his head. "That's what I thought. No, I will have the adult come to me. And when it does…BANG! It will be dead before dessert."

[a/n] Thank you for all the kind reviews. I hope you're still enjoying it!


	7. Sabotaging the Camp

**Chapter Seven:**

Astrid landed with Stormfly and the twins in front of the camper. The rest of the group descended from the trees as well. Gobber went back into the camper, rummaged through some supplies and when he emerged again, he had two needles with tags on them. Gobber walked over to the twins and stuck a needle in their arms. They screamed in surprise and confusion at the sudden pain jolting through their arms. Hiccup nodded in approval, but Astrid said, "Gobber, you can't just go tagging people! That's not right."

She turned to face her boyfriend who was smirking at the action and she promptly smacked him upside the head. "Ow! What was that…oh right, _communication_!" Hiccup said, dryly. He rubbed the back of his head and half-scolded his peg-legged uncle. "Gobber, Astrid has a point. You shouldn't tag people and I doubt Hammond will be very happy."

"Actually," Snotlout interjected, "Hammond will probably only be mad that you used some cheap animal tags rather than her high-tech InGen prototypes." The group stared at him in disbelief. "What? The twins get into more trouble and get lost more often than you realize. Their mother even has a rule about hospitals to try to curb their crazy behaviors."

"Yeah no hospitals on holidays!" "Or Sundays!"

"Why not? I mean, I get it, 'cause you two probably put one another in the hospital more often than you mother can count, but that's so specific…"

"Mom says that if you go to the hospital on Sundays one of the gods will strike you with a lightning bolt and you'll die for sure. And she says that only idiots go to the hospital on holidays," Ruff explained.

"Yeah! And we're not idiots!" Tuff declared, crossing him arms confidently. "Hey what's this…ow it's attached! Ahh! Get it off!"

"Ahh! There's one on me too!" Ruff screamed.

As the twins shouted and mildly panicked about their new tags, Astrid leaned over to Hiccup and whispered, "And you want children."

"Not _those_ children. Just a _breed_ of child would be intriguing. Remember we're going to called him 'Icky'." Hiccup said and Astrid hummed in agreement. He kissed her forehead and then said to the group. "All right, so BioSyn's here and we've found the twins. What's next?"

* * *

The sun had begun to set. With the help of Snotlout, the group had tracked down the base camp for BioSyn. They watched from the cover of the trees. Astrid had tricked the twins into playing the 'silent game' and had promised them chocolate for whoever could stay silent the longest, including noises made from pushing or shoving one another. It was surprisingly effective as Ruff and Tuff sat cross-legged on opposite sides of a large tree trunk.

The adults watched BioSyn's men as they continued to set up the camp. Several dragons were in cages already, but were not sedated. Men walked around with guns and other weapons, just in case any of the dragons escapes from the fire-proof cages. "My god they are well organized. Those are some major-league toys," Snotlout commented.

"Jealous are we?" Snotlout shot Hiccup a glare. Hiccup smirked but decided not to press the matter further. He turned to his mother, "So what's the plan? I see two Gronckles, one Zippleback, a cage full of Terrible Terrors, a Monstrous Nightmare and two Hobblegrunts. And judging by the Hobblegrunts' red pigmentation, I'd say they're pretty angry to be in the cages."

Valka thought for a moment and then said, "Just Gobber and I will go. It is what Hammond is paying us for after all and besides, it will be easier to slip just two people into the camp than a whole slew of them." She held her hand up to stop her son's protests to the plan, before continuing, "And Gobber and I are very well acquainted with trappers and poachers. You'd be surprised at how many times we had to stop filming because of poachers in the area."

"Yeah well that's all well and good, you two go, stop BioSyn, yay! What about Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum over here? We should tie their hands to their feet so they can't go anywhere," Snotlout said.

"I dunno," Fishlegs said, "Astrid's little silent game has kept them still and silent, which I honestly didn't think either thing was possible unless they were dead. Maybe just keep them doing that and we'll keep them in the camper with us and it will be fine…?"

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"Hang on! I got this," Astrid said and walked over to the twins. She crouched down and said, "So Hiccup thinks you two can't stay in the camper until Dr. Haddock and Gobber Van Owen come back. I bet him $20 that you could and I _really_ don't want to lose that bet. So could you do me a favor and stay in the camper so I can win this bet?"

Ruff and Tuff exchanged glances. Tuff spit onto his hand and stretched it out towards his sister. Astrid watched in disgust as Ruff mimicked the action. The twins shook hands, nodded to Astrid and skipped off to the camper.

"That was very clever," Fishlegs commented.

"Yeah, well they're pretty competitive by nature. And believe it or not I used to be pretty competitive too. My mom used to do things like that all the time to me," Astrid explained. "Now c'mon, let's get back to the camper while Gobber and Dr. Haddock take care of the trapped dragons."

Once again, Gobber marveled at the fluidity of Valka's movements as she slunk into the campsite. He followed behind her with a pair of bolt cutters. Her staff was useful for prying open basic traps, but cutting through deadbolt locks on cages required some more sophisticated equipment.

They approached the cage with the Hobblegrunts. When the frilled dragons saw the new humans who came without weapons, they changed their scales from red to purple. "Hiccup said that means curious," Valka commented as she circled around the cage. "Doesn't look like they sustained any major wounds. Some minor rope burns here and there but those should heal on their own."

Gobber nodded and cut open the cage with the bolt cutters. He opened the door and the dragons cautiously stepped out. The two Hobblegrunts turned their scales back to yellow—a happy color and took off into the night sky.

Valka and Gobber then freed the Gronckles and the Monstrous Nightmare. The Gronckles followed the Hobblegrunts into the air, but the temperamental Monstrous Nightmare growled and set a nearby tent on fire before taking off as well. BioSyn's men shouted and scrambled to put the tent out as Gobber and Valka snuck around to the last two cages. "Well tha' outta keep them busy while we free t' Zippleback an' the Terrors." Gobber said as he cut open the Zippleback's cage.

The Zippleback's one head breathed out gas and the second head lit it, causing the nearby Jeep to combust. The Zippleback took off into the air and hovered briefly before dive-bombing the camp. It grabbed onto its tails with its head and coated its body in gas before setting the gas aflame. It had turned itself into a rolling fire wheel and rolled through the camp, destroying everything in its path. After setting much of the camp on fire, the Zippleback took back off into the night sky.

Valka grabbed the cage with the Terrible Terrors in it. "What. Is. All. The. Fuss?" Dagur shouted as he emerged from his tent. Valka froze. She was standing only a few feet behind him and Gobber was safely hidden behind the Zippleback's former cage.

"Time's up," Gobber noted quietly and pointed to Dagur.

Valka nodded and placed the overcrowded cage of Terrors on the ground just behind the unsuspecting Dagur. She opened the cage door and the Terrible Terrors flooded out of it. They swarmed onto Dagur, who screamed. The Terrible Terrors chattered and circled around him several times before flying off into the night. "Ah! You wretched dragons!" Dagur screamed. One of the dragontologists approached him and Dagur grabbed him by the shirt collar, "You wanna tell me how the dragons escapes the _fireproof_ cages, hmm?"

"Um…it's just…um…Dagur, your derangedness, um, the locks were cut off."

Dagur threw the poor dragontologist onto the ground and laughed to himself. "Oh ho ho, the game's afoot. I do-so love a worthy opponent."

Valka and Gobber ran off into the forest as BioSyn continued to wrestle with the damages the dragons had left. Valka stopped suddenly and Gobber inhaled sharply as he tried to stop on a dime as well, but failed miserable. "Do you hear that?" Valka asked. "A dragon is in trouble. This way." She took off again and Gobber hustled after her.

They came to a muddy bank where the juvenile Bewilderbeast was tied to the ground, wailing fearfully. Initially Gobber was shocked at the sight, but Valka's instincts had already taken over and she began to help the downed dragon. "Gobber, help me with the stakes in the ground. We need to get him back to the camper to fix his leg."

Gobber pointed to the injured white dragon, "Look, Val. It 'as a broken leg an' a hole in its wing. E'en if we fix t' leg it will ne'er fly. There's no use saving 'im."

Valka wasn't going to give up so easily. "This is the alpha. Do you know how big they grow up to be? Most Viking legends say that this dragon never even flew anyway. C'mon, Gobber, have a heart!" Valka pleaded.

Gobber smirked, "Jest like Zimbabwe," he muttered.


	8. Mommy's Very Angry

**Chapter Eight:**

"Oh my gods, is that what I think it is?" Astrid asked as Valka swung open the door and Gobber hobbled inside carrying the juvenile white dragon. It was whining in pain and fear. His back leg was badly broken, a cheap tactic for Dagur to lure the mother Bewilderbeast to him.

"Get outta the way. This thing innit as light as it looks."

"Dr. Haddock!" Snoutlout shouted.

Valka smiled and calmly responded, "Y'know, Snotlout, you should try talking in volumes other than utter despair and alarm. It will make whatever argument you have much more compelling."

Snotlout chose to ignore her. "What were you thinking? Of all the crazy ideas! Couldn't you pick a dragon that doesn't spit ice and have parents that are the size of the Empire State Building? This thing is definitely NOT trainable."

"How do you know? Have you tried?" Hiccup smirked.

"No! Because I happen to like _living_."

"Quit yer yapping. Move outta the way. I'm gonna put this thing on the table. We need ta set its leg."

As Valka cleared the table, Hiccup and Fishlegs trailed behind her, excited about the Bewilderbeast. Flurries of "I didn't think they existed" "I didn't know Hammond made Bewilderbeasts." "They weren't on the first island" "I wonder how big they get" and "Do they have a homing beacon like the Red Death" spewed from the over-eager dragontologists' lips.

Astrid and Snotlout stayed out of the way. The twins stood on their tiptoes to try to see over the adults' shoulders. Valka barked orders to Gobber, who was struggling to restrain the infant. "I need some morphine o' somet'ing, Val. He's struggling somet'ing fierce." He pulled his belt off and used it to create a makeshift muzzle, which effectively silenced the infant.

Valka opened up the human first aid kit and then her veterinary one. She slipped on the latex gloves and then grabbed a needle and the morphine bottle from the veterinary first aid kit. "We don't know what his metabolism is, so let's just start with this dosage. Hiccup, grab the portable ultrasound machine from the vet kit." Hiccup handed his mother the ultrasound machine as she stuck the infant Bewilderbeast with the needle. Almost immediately the infant calmed. Valka bit her lip, worried she may have given him too much of a dosage.

Valka took the ultrasound from her son and rubbed it over the leg. "Ah look there's the fracture. We can set a splint nice and easy."

"Hey Hiccup…" Tuff started but Hiccup waved a dismissive hand as he tried to help his mother with the baby Bewilderbeast. Tuff stomped his foot on the ground, "Hiccup!" Again, he was dismissed. Ruff glanced outside and saw it too. She took her shoe off and threw it at Hiccup's head.

"Ow! What in all of Valhalla was that for?" Hiccup shouted, rubbing the back of his head. Tuff pointed out the window of the overly cramped camper to the dragons. They were all on edge and Toothless was pawing at the door. Hiccup glanced at Astrid.

Meanwhile Valka and Gobber struggled to maneuver around the mass of people to help the juvenile Bewilderbeast. Finally Valka said, "There's too many people in here. Either make yourselves useful or get out." She pushed the group out of the camper.

Toothless and the other dragons nudged at their riders. They knew that this was a bad plan. Hiccup put his hand on Toothless' snout. "I know, bud. I'm trying to think of a plan."

"Well think of it in the air. We've got company!" Astrid pointed to the pack of Speed Stingers heading their way. "They all look full grown, Hiccup. I don't want to know how deadly their stings are."

Hiccup nodded. "Mount up." The riders did so without hesitation.

As the dragons hovered in the air, Ruff pointed to the trees, "What is that?"

"A High-Hide," Snotlout replied. After seeing the confused faces of his companions he elaborated, "A High-Hide. You know you go high and you hide. A High-Hide. It's one of BioSyn's, I think."

"We should totally hide in there with the dragons!" Ruff said. "That is the dumbest idea I've ever heard. I hereby disown you!" Tuff announced almost instantaneously.

"Actually, I kind of like that idea…" Hiccup started.

"Welcome back to the family," Tuff clasped his hand on his sister's shoulder. She promptly grabbed his hand and twisted it backwards.

Hiccup glanced at the High-Hide and back to the group. "Okay, here's the plan…we're going up into the High Hide so we're away from all these Speed Stingers and the dragons won't get too tired from flying too long carrying us. We'll send them to hide as well and Fishlegs will use his dragon calling expertise if we need a fast getaway."

"How long are we waiting?"

"Just until my mom and Gobber are finished splinting the baby Bewilderbeast. I don't want to take any chances."

"This is a mess. Your mom and Gobber have a baby Bewilderbeast that's injured. Hiccup, you know the stories about Bewilderbeasts better than anyone. And the Speed Stingers on the ground are going to prevent them from getting out of the camper. Remember what happened to Heather in the Maintenance Shed on Site A? The camper's doors aren't as reinforced," Astrid said.

"Thank you for summing that up," Hiccup sighed.

"Uh, guys, I hate to be the bearer of worse news," Fishlegs squeaked, "But mommy is very angry." Fishlegs pointed across the horizon. There was a path of ice. The mother Bewilderbeast was destroying everything in its path as she searched for the infant. In the distance they heard the Bewilderbeast roar. The lead Speed Stinger squawked and the pack raced off. They knew the Bewilderbeast was angry and the flightless dragons didn't want to be around when she took her anger out. "Yep," Fishlegs concluded. "Very angry."

"Toothless," Hiccup called out to his Night Fury who arrived almost immediately. Astrid grabbed his arm before his tried to jump out of the High Hide. "I have to warn my mom, Astrid." Astrid nodded. She pulled him in for a quick kiss before releasing him. Hiccup jumped onto Toothless' back. "Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Astrid shot him a glare. "Just make sure you don't lose your other leg. Last time you went up against a colossal dragon you came back to me missing limbs. I don't think you'll make a good pirate with _two_ peg legs."

"Leg jokes, always funny. Don't worry, milady, I'll be careful. Always am."

As he took off, Fishlegs leaned over to Astrid, "Um, he's…"

"…Not ever careful when it comes to dragons. I know," Astrid snapped.

Before Hiccup could get close enough to the camper with Toothless to warn his mother, the Bewilderbeast landed on the ground, shaking it. Inside the camper Gobber and Valka grasped onto the table to steady themselves. Valka peered outside and upon seeing the huge white legs of the mother Bewilderbeast, she gasped. "We need to set this splint quickly. Something pliable that will break off as he gets older. And fast, mommy's here. And I don't think she knows that we're _helping_ her baby."

Gobber nodded and continued to hold the baby down. The mother Bewilderbeast knocked the camper with her tusks, rocking it slightly. She sniffed the camper. Valka and Gobber stayed completely still. "This isn't hunting behavior, Gobber. She's searching for her baby."

"Well let's not disappoint 'er then," Gobber responded. He pulled the muzzle off of the juvenile Bewilderbeast, and the dragon immediately began to cry out for its mother again. At the sound of the cries the mother Bewilderbeast roared and nudged the camper again. Gobber slowly hobbled down the stairs and presented the juvenile to the mother. Her eyes dilated at the sight of her baby. Once Gobber placed the infant on the ground, it climbed onto its mother's tusk. The mother flew away.

In the camper, Valka and Gobber breathed a sigh of relief. Hiccup collapsed onto the back of Toothless and rubbed the palms of his hands in his eyes. The nubs on Toothless' ears twitched. Hiccup's mobile phone rang. He answered it, surprised that the ever-malfunctioning phone even received service here. On the other line was Astrid. "Hiccup? Hiccup! You gotta get your mom and Gobber outta there! The Bewilderbeast is coming back. And she's mad! Fishlegs tried calling…Snotlout shut _up_! Fishlegs tried calling for the dragons but there's no sign of them yet."

"Oh gods," Hiccup sat up and looked down at the forest. The Bewilderbeast was trampling trees and freezing everything in its path. Once she approached the camper she froze one side of it, effectively barricading the door and locking Gobber and Valka inside. The mother dragon roared and knocked the camper, lifting it onto two wheels. Hiccup watched helplessly from the air. As the camper slammed onto the ground, the entire power supply was knocked out.

[a/n] I suppose it's kinda mean to leave you with a slight cliffhanger. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. And you got two chapters in the same week. Next chapter should be up before Thanksgiving. J


	9. Attack on the Camper

**Chapter Nine:**

Inside of the camper the entire power supply was knocked out by the sudden jolt from the Bewilderbeast. Gobber quickly reached for the emergency flashlight and flicked it on. The light flickered out of the camper window before Gobber moved it to illuminate the camper itself.

Meanwhile Hiccup and Toothless hovered above the camper and the Bewilderbeast. Hiccup saw the flashlight turn on, "No, no, no, turn the light off. Turn the light off!" He muttered to himself. Toothless grumbled in response. Sometimes humans were too naïve for their own good. The Bewilderbeast flared its nostrils as it saw the light for a brief moment. It roared and moved around to the other side of the camper, shaking the ground with each step. She continued to search for her the humans that had stolen her baby.

The Bewilderbeast had already frozen the door of the camper shut, trapping Valka and Gobber inside. And, just because things just _had_ to get worse…the Bewilderbeast then pushed the camper towards the edge of the cliff. Inside of the camper Gobber shouted to Valka. "Grab onta somet'ing! She's gonna try an' push us o'er the cliff!" Valka nodded and grabbed onto the handle of the mini oven while Gobber grabbed onto the legs of the table that were bolted to the floor of the camper. Outside, Toothless watched as the Bewilderbeast continued to push the camper and then tossed his head to slap his ear on Hiccup, pulling his friend out of his horrified trance. "You're right, bud. Let's go before she pushes them all the way off the cliff."

Toothless flapped his wings twice and then flew towards the colossal dragon. He fired a single shot just above the Bewilderbeast's left eye. The Bewilderbeast roared and tossed her head from side to side, which knocked her tusks straight into the camper, puncturing it. The Bewilderbeast jolted back, trying to free herself from the camper. She pressed her one giant leg onto the roof of the camper and pressed down, effectively pulling her tusk from the metal and crushing the top of the camper. Inside, Valka and Gobber shielded their eyes as the pressure from the Bewilderbeast's foot on the ceiling caused the wires to spark. The windows shattered. The Bewilderbeast nudged the camper again, sending half of it over the edge.

She roared again and fired ice up into the air at the Night Fury. Toothless expertly wove to dodge every shot before firing back. In the distance, Hiccup could hear Astrid call out to him. Without turning his head to face her, he called out, "Get my mom and Gobber outta there! We'll keep the Bewilderbeast busy!"

Astrid and Snotlout landed on the ground with their dragons, having left Fishlegs to tend to the twins in the High-Hide. Astrid climbed through the broken windshield and into the half of the camper still on the ground. She called down, "Dr. Haddock, Mr. Van Owen? Are you alive?"

"Yes!" "Fer th' moment!" The pair responded at the same time.

"What do you need?"

"Rope."

"Snotlout brought some. Anything else?"

"And two double-bacon cheeseburgers with everything!" "No pickles on mine!"

Astrid rolled her eyes. They were definitely okay for the moment. She climbed back out to meet Snotlout. She glanced briefly at the sky and saw that Toothless was firing more plasma blasts at the Bewilderbeast. Hiccup was steering the Night Fury away from the camper and the Bewilderbeast was steadily following. The Bewilderbeast roared and tried again to freeze the Night Fury and his rider, to no avail. Toothless laughed, or attempted to anyway. Hiccup chuckled at Toothless' sad attempt at laughter.

The brief victory was short lived and the Bewilderbeast froze Toothless' tail fin. Toothless flapped his wings extra hard, but he was losing altitude, and fast. Astrid watched in horror as her boyfriend and his dragon plummeted through the trees.

"HICCUP!" Astrid started after him but Snotlout grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She wretched his hand backwards and Snotlout screamed in agony.

"Dr. Hofferson! We need to get Hiccup's mom and uncle out of the camper. I can't do that by myself. We'll go after Hiccup then. Otherwise you're condemning Valka and Gobber to death." Astrid scowled and glanced briefly between the camper and the forest. The Bewilderbeast had flown off for the moment, which would give them enough time to get Valka and Gobber up to safety before she decided to come back for another round of retaliation.

Astrid turned to her Nadder. "All right Stormfly, to the sky. If that Bewilderbeast comes back keep her busy. Hookfang," Astrid walked to the front of the camper and motioned for the Monstrous Nightmare to follow her. "Bite here and pull." The Monstrous Nightmare obliged and the dragon's brute strength kept the camper from sliding further down the cliff.

Snotlout tied the rope to a nearby tree trunk and gave the remainder of it to Astrid. Astrid climbed into the camper through the broken windshield once again. She tiptoed through the camper, stepping over broken glass and miscellaneous supplies. She peered over the edge of the second part of the camper to see Valka and Gobber hanging on for their lives. "I brought rope! Catch!"

She tossed the rope down and Gobber grabbed it with his good hand. "Didja tie this t' anything, lass?" Astrid nodded. Gobber pulled on the rope to test its fidelity anyway. He reached across the width of the camper to hand the edge of the rope to Valka. Valka reached her arm out, and as she did her weight shifted against the mini-oven's door and it opened. She screamed as she fell, smashing into the rear windshield of the camper. Luckily, the glass was reinforced so she didn't immediately break it. As she tried to push herself up to sitting, however, the glass began to crack.

"Dr. Haddock, don't move! I'm coming!" Astrid called as she swung her leg over the edge and down into the second part of the camper. Gobber had begun to move down towards Valka as well but stopped upon seeing his camera. It was hanging from a lamp from the neck strap and it was slowly slipping.

"Astrid, get Valka, the camera's gonna fall an' break t' glass!" Astrid nodded as she continued to climb down towards Valka. Astrid grabbed the end of the rope and tied it around her waist before continuing. Valka's breathing was labored as the glass beneath her continued to crack.

"C'mon, Dr. Haddock, almost there. Grab my hand, Dr. Haddock!"

The two women reached for one another, missing each other just barely. Above them, Gobber reached for his camera as it continued to slip. Astrid repositioned herself to lean out just a little farther and before putting her hand out again…

"WATCH OUT!" The camera fell. Gobber had missed it.

Astrid grabbed Valka's staff and thrust the end towards Valka who grabbed it just in time. Astrid grunted as she hoisted Valka up into the camper once more. The women hugged one another. "Thank you, my dear."

"Maybe tha' staff is good luck after all!" Gobber shouted down to the pair. "Now le's get outta here!"

* * *

Toothless and Hiccup tumbled through the trees. They hit a large branch, which knocked Hiccup off of the Night Fury's back. Toothless called out to his rider and flapped his wings, trying desperately to reach him. With his tail rudder frozen, he couldn't properly maneuver. Hiccup plummeted through the trees and hit his head on the ground, knocking him out. Toothless tried again to gain altitude, but joined his friend on the ground.

The fall thankfully did not knock Toothless out. He turned to his frozen tail rudder and breathed a low blue flame to defrost it. Some of the ice had cut the tail fin before it had totally frozen over and Toothless wrinkled his nose at the sight of blood. Once he had finished defrosting his tail, he decided to find out where his human had fallen to. He trudged through the forest a few feet before stopping in his tracks. He heard a sound of footsteps and perked up, hoping that it was Hiccup walking towards him. To the Night Fury's dismay, a different human approached him. He had a blue tattoo over his eye.

Toothless scowled as the new human approached him. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Dagur circled Toothless and upon seeing his injured tail fin, he smirked. "An injured Night Fury, eh?" Toothless jumped away from Dagur, spread his wings, puffed his chest, and growled. "Oh, no, no! Don't worry, Mr. Night Fury. I'm here to help."

Toothless cocked his head to the side and lowered his wings slightly. Was this human a friend of Hiccup's? He had a similar air to him that the Snotlout human had, and that human was Hiccup's friend and a friend of Hookfang. "Good boy," Dagur whispered as he approached the tail once again. He quickly took out his switchblade and jabbed it into Toothless' already injured tail.

Toothless wailed in pain and Dagur laughed maniacally. The Night Fury glanced over his shoulder at his tail. The left fin was torn completely off and his tail was drenched in blood. Toothless growled in frustration and turned back to face the nasty human. He narrowed his eyes. "Today is a good day, Mr. Night Fury. And do you know why?" Dagur asked as he approached the dragon. Toothless fired a warning shot, which caused Dagur to jump backwards.

Dagur recomposed himself, straighten his jacket and then said, "I'll tell you anyway, dragon, even though you're being awfully rude. Today is a good day because in a little while I will have a Bewilderbeast at my disposal and will be in control of all the dragons and then you stumbled into my life. So I'll have your head as a TROPHY!"

Toothless flinched when the deranged human raised his voice. He took a deep breath and fire several consecutive shots at the human's feet. Dagur laughed as he dodged the shots, "Trying to make me dance, are we, Mr. Night Fury?" Dagur's light expression changed completely and he deadpanned at the Night Fury, "I _hate_ dancing." Dagur aimed the gun at Toothless who immediately spread his wings and attempted to fly away. Without his left tail fin, he had no maneuverability and he only got a few feet off the ground before toppling down…

…right onto Dagur, which knocked him out cold. Toothless got back on his feet and shook the dirt and leaves off of himself. He couldn't stay here: he was a downed dragon and this human was a hunter human. He ran off deeper into the forest.

Several minutes passed and Hiccup pushed through the dense brush, calling out for Toothless. "C'mon bud where are you?" Hiccup saw Dagur knocked out on the ground. Hiccup glanced around to see if any of Dagur's men were nearby and when he saw nothing, he crouched down and unloaded Dagur's gun and stole his additional ammo from his pockets. Hiccup noticed blood stains on the ground, and feared the worse. _Dagur must have shot Toothless. Oh gods, oh gods!_ Hiccup thought as he hurried through the forest, following the blood trail.

[a/n] I'm so sorry that Dagur is a bastard, and I needed Toothless to lose his tailfin at some point since that didn't happen in the first installment.


	10. Downed Dragon

**Chapter Ten** : **Downed Dragon**

"Toothless!" Hiccup's voiced was raspy from his constant calling. He ran both his hands through his hair, frustrated at the current predicament. The leaves of the bushes behind him were rustled. Hiccup tensed up. On this island he didn't know where the Changewing or Speed Stinger territories were, and he knew the probability of stumbling upon one and making it out unscathed was very low. Especially now that he was dragon-less. "Toothless?" Hiccup whispered, hopefully.

A black figure bounded past him. "Toothless! Aw, bud, you scared me!" As Hiccup approached, Toothless cowered away and bore his teeth. Hiccup stopped mid-step: Toothless hadn't done that to him in over two years. "Toothless, bud, it's me." When Hiccup took another step closer, Toothless fired a warning blast at Hiccup's feet. Toothless backed away and flared his wings out.

Inhaling sharply, Hiccup extended his hand slowly with his palm open. "It's gonna be okay, bud. Let me help." Toothless growled and tried to take off. He fluttered for a few feet before crash landing again. Toothless recovered and tried two more times to fly before giving up and running further into the forest. Desperately, Hiccup chased after him.

Hiccup pushed back the shrubbery to reveal the Visitor's Center. It was overgrown and it looked like most of the glass on the windows had been broken. Toothless stood in front of the overgrown Visitor's Center, growling at Hiccup.

As Hiccup approached, Toothless' eyes turned to slits and he flapped his wings, trying to get airborn. He extended his claws and grasped onto the wall of the building and climbed up it. Toothless sat perched on the highest part of the roof. Hiccup rolled his eyes. _You useless reptile, you can't fly but somehow you still managed to get on top of the roof._ He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out, "Toothless, c'mon bud. I know you're hurt. Let me help you. Come down from there." Again Toothless growled.

Sighing, Hiccup began to scale the wall, using the vines that had taken over the Visitor Center to help. Toothless whined and backed away from Hiccup as he climbed closer. Now Toothless began to make himself as small as possible. He couldn't fire at Hiccup now since Hiccup might fall. He didn't want to hurt Hiccup, but he didn't want Hiccup to hurt him either. Slowly, but surely, Hiccup reached the top of the roof and swung his good leg onto the ledge. As he reached for another vine to help hoist himself all the way on top of the roof, the vine snapped and Hiccup fell. Toothless' eyes widened and he leapt from the rooftop as well to save his friend.

Toothless grabbed Hiccup with his front paws and pulled him close against his chest. He then wrapped his wings around the two of them, keeping them safe as they hit the ground. Toothless grunted from the impact. Slowly, the Night Fury unraveled himself from around Hiccup. Hiccup placed a palm on his throbbing forehead and looked down at his feet.

"Well, at least I didn't lose another one. Thanks for the save, bud." Slowly the Viking and his dragon stood up. Hiccup again reached out his arm with his palm open. "Please, Toothless. Let me help you, bud." Toothless hesitated twice before pressing his nose again Hiccup's hand. Hiccup smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "Let me see, bud." Toothless glanced at his tail and back at Hiccup. He nodded and Hiccup walked slowly around the Night Fury to inspect the tail fin. Hiccup winced at the sight.

"All right bud, let's go inside the Visitor's Center and see if there's anything in there to clean up the wound. Then we'll see about making you a new tail fin."

* * *

Several hours later, and several prototypes later Hiccup presented Toothless with another makeshift tailfin, "Ta-da!" Toothless wrinkled his nose, "W-what? Aw, c'mon, Toothless. I know this one will work. I worked out all of the kinks from the last few prototypes. See? Now it will attach directly to your other tail rudder and as you maneuver the right one, this prosthetic will mimic the movement. And I put some WD40 on it to help the gears move better."

Hiccup placed the tail rudder against Toothless' real tail and attached the mechanisms. Toothless jumped away when the last mechanism sputtered shut and knocked over several canisters, computer keyboards and monitors in the process. Hiccup laughed to himself for the startled Night Fury looked like a cat with something taped to its tail. After a moment, Toothless calmed down and sniffed the new prosthetic. It was heavier than the previous ones.

Toothless opened and closed his good tail fin and was shocked when the prosthetic one did in fact mimic the movement. "There ya go. See? Good as new. No more downed dragon." Before the two of them could test it out properly they heard one of the doors creak open and the sound of a gun being loaded. "Toothless, get outta sight. I'll stall whoever it is and meet you on the roof, okay bud?" At first, the Night Fury shook his head, not liking the idea of leaving his friend alone with another human who had a gun. Hiccup insisted though. Toothless nodded and hurried out of the Visitor's Center.

"Oh Mr. Night Fury! Come out, come out wherever you are! Dagur the Deranged has something…oh hello. Who the hell are you, my muscularly challenged friend?"

"Uh, Hiccup."

"Hic-cup? That's a sorry name."

"It grows on you."

Dagur hummed in mock-agreement. "I'm Dagur. Listen, Hiccup. I'm looking for a Night Fury. I've tracked him here by his trail of blood. You haven't seen a Night Fury have you?"

"Uh, a-actually I…" Hiccup paused for a moment, a plan formulating in his head. "I _did_ see a Night Fury in here. He attacked me, see the blood?" Hiccup showed his blood-stained hands from helping Toothless.

"Excellent! Where did he go?"

"He is in here somewhere I think. I followed him here too. Why don't we split up?" Dagur pointed the gun directly at Hiccup's head. Even though Hiccup knew that Dagur had no more ammo, he couldn't let Dagur know that. "O-or, we could totally stay together. Strength in numbers and all that jazz."

"I won't have you killing that Night Fury. The only person who gets that privilege is me."

"Uh…but…I…I saw him first!" It was a weak attempt to dissuade Dagur from trying to kill Toothless, but Hiccup was running out of ideas.

"But you don't have anything to kill it with." Dagur glanced around the facility. "So this is how you make dragons, eh?"

"Yeah. This, this is how you make dragons."

"Kinda like playing god, huh, Hiccup?" Dagur nudged him with his elbow. _Which god?_ Hiccup wondered to himself before realizing that Dagur probably wasn't of Viking decent like himself. The pair heard a rustling outside of the Visitor' Center. "The Night Fury! C'mon!" He grabbed Hiccup by his shirt collar and practically dragged him outside.

Toothless hadn't flown onto the roof to wait like Hiccup had instructed. He was afraid of not being able to fly still despite having a new prosthetic. Toothless held onto the side of the building with his claws and climbed up it as quickly as possible. Dagur placed his gun back in his hostler and began to scale the wall. "Come, Hiccup! We must hunt the Night Fury down!"

Hiccup sighed and followed Dagur. Toothless backed away from the pair. Hiccup was a few steps behind Dagur and signaled to Toothless that it was going to be okay. As the pair approached, Toothless continued to back away slowly, trying to make himself as small as possible. "I don't get it, why doesn't it fly away?"

 _Because Toothless is afraid the new prosthetic won't work._ Hiccup thought to himself and wished that he had perfected it a few prototypes earlier so they could have tested it. But Hiccup didn't mention it to Dagur. Instead he said, "Maybe he wants us to follow."

"You mean like a trap?"

"Exactly. Maybe we should go back to your base camp and regroup," Hiccup said hopefully.

"Oh, brother, don't you know that the trappers' trap can trap the trapper?"

"Uh, what does that even mean?"

Dagur laughed maniacally. "I don't know!" Dagur turned to face the Night Fury again and aimed his gun at it. He fired twice but was shooting blanks. Hiccup closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. "Some asshole removed my ammo."

"Probably the Terrible Terrors. They like shiny things," Hiccup half-lied.

Dagur shrugged. "No matter. I always have extra in my boot." Dagur reloaded his pistol.

"Isn't that uncomfortable?"

"Extremely. Say good night, Mr. Night Fury."

"What the hell is the matter with you, Dagur? This creature exists on the planet for the first time in thousands of years and the only way you can express yourself is to kill it?"

Dagur turned to face Hiccup, "You remember that guy about twenty years ago who climbed Mount Everest without any oxygen and came down almost dead? People asked him, 'Why did you go up there to die?' and he said, 'I didn't. I went up there to live'."

Hiccup scowled. "Yeah but the difference is the mountain didn't have to die."

Dagur shrugged. "Can't have the same story as him, can I?" He cocked the pistol again.

"No, Dagur, I can't let you do this."

Dagur rolled his eyes and lowered the gun. "Fine, you saw him first, you can take home a wing or something."

"Actually I'm pretty much going to take the whole dragon. Toothless!" As Hiccup called out his dragon's name and Toothless fluttered over to him, Dagur mouthed the name in confusion. "I'm not a poacher like you, Dagur. I'm a scientist and a conservationist. You won't be killing this dragon." Once Hiccup had climbed onto Toothless' back the Night Fury shot the pistol out of Dagur's hand. Hiccup whispered a few words of encouragement to Toothless and the pair flew off.

"I could ride a dragon," Dagur the Deranged said to himself. A Terrible Terror had crept up and tried to steal the pistol on the ground. "NOT YOU LITTLE DRAGON! YOU ARE TOO TINY!" His shouts startled the poor Terrible Terror who flew off into the bushes and out of sight. Dagur picked up his gun and holstered it once again. His phone rang, "WHAT IS IT?"

On the other line Ludlow silrntly counted backwards from five, for Dagur really was off his rocker sometimes. "We have the Bewilderbeast. Meet us at the rendezvous point in fifteen."

[a/n] Yeah, Toothless' prosthetic is based off of the one he receives in the holiday short: Gift of the Night Fury. And yeah, Dagur is a deranged crazy ass. I know. Sorry.


	11. To the Visitor's Center

**Chapter Eleven: To the Visitor's Center**

With Valka and Gobber safely back on solid ground, Astrid instructed Hookfang and Stormfly to pull the camper back onto the ground as well. It took several tries, but eventually the two dragons successfully pulled the other half of the camper back up from its dangling position over the cliff's edge. Valka and Gobber inspected the remains of the camper. It was definitely not drivable any more, but it would still be able to hold supplies and shield them from the elements.

Astrid climbed back into the camper through the windshield and began to grab some emergency supplies. "What are you doing?" Snotlout asked.

"I'm going after Hiccup. The Bewilderbeast took down Toothless. Gods only know what trouble he's in."

"We should stay together," Valka said. Before Astrid could protest, Valka elaborated, "And we should search for Hiccup. There is strength in numbers and carnivores will not try to attack a full group. You're more likely to be attacked if you are on your own, especially if the carnivores are pack hunters like wolves or lionesses."

"Dragons don't eat humans," Astrid replied. Valka gave her a look and Astrid rolled her eyes. "Okay, fine, you're right. Can we get moving then? I'm worried he's fallen into Changewing territory or Speed Stinger territory, and both are super territorial and none too friendly."

"Let's get Fishlegs and the twins and then move out," Valka suggested.

Astrid laughed to herself. "Heh, yeah, I guess we should relieve Fishlegs from babysitting duty. The twins hopefully haven't torn him apart either."

The group trudged back towards the High-Hide. Snotlout pressed the button at the base of the High-Hide, which brought Fishlegs and the twins down. To everyone's surprise Fishlegs was still in one piece and he had a large schematic in his hands. "Look what I found guys! It's one of BioSyn's, well, actually it's one of InGen's that BioSyn stole."

"What is it?"

"A treasure map!" The twins said.

Fishlegs glared at them but chose not to indulge in any of their crazy fantasies. "It's a schematic of the entire island."

Gobber snatched the schematic from Fishlegs. "Here, we'll go here," he pointed to the Visitor's Center, "Hopefully one o' the long range radios will work an' we'll be able t' call fer help."

"What about Hiccup?"

"It's in ta direction tha' he fell anyway."

The group mounted onto the dragons and took off towards the Visitor's Center. They weren't flying for very long before all of the dragons began to lose altitude. In the distance, the group could hear a low humming. Without warning the dragons shook their riders violently from their back and flew off in the opposite direction.

As Gobber stood up and cradled his aching wrist, he said, "Do they usually do that?" The group shook their heads. "Well, let's continue on foot to the Visitor's Center."

"But what about our dragons? My poor Meatlug! She's probably so scared and alone," Fishlegs whined.

Astrid pulled several leaves out of her braid and cleared her throat. "We need to get to the Visitor's Center and contact the mainland. And we need to find Hiccup and now the dragons. This is a mess, but as Valka pointed out splitting up sets us up for being Changewing bait. So I say we head to the Visitor's Center and hope that Hiccup has a plan for getting the dragons back." The others nodded and they continued their journey on foot.

* * *

Meanwhile at the BioSyn base camp…

Dagur gripped the cage where the tranquilized Bewilderbeast was and smiled maliciously. "What else are you taking back with you, Ludlow?"

"Just it."

Dagur pivoted on his heel and grabbed Ludlow by his collar. He lifted the shorter man off of the ground and growled, "This was meant to be _my_ fee. You can't have it! It's my dragon!"

"You wanted the adult, not the baby, you said," Ludlow pointed out. "N-no one is stopping you from getting the adult. If anything we probably helped to lure her to you."

Dagur huffed. He had lost the Night Fury to that scrawny boy, what was his ridiculous name? Hiccup or something. And now Ludlow had double crossed him and was taking the Bewilderbeast. "So why just it?" Dagur asked.

"We're going to raise it in captivity. The Zoo won't be able to release it into the wild if it's been raised almost its entire life in captivity. I venture the Bewilderbeast as it grows will have the 'wow' factor we need. Then we'll be able to use the public's money to come back here and get more species of dragons to bring back to the Zoo."

"The Haddocks won't let you do that. And what about Hammond?" Dagur asked as he pulled Ludlow closer to him, their noses practically touching.

"If all goes according to plan, this will put BioSyn back on the map and InGen will be bankrupt. Did you know that Hammond is currently engineering _phones_ because of the hit they took with these parks?" Ludlow laughed to himself. Dagur found nothing funny in the statement and shook Ludlow to his senses. "Anyway, it's all business. Don't you worry. Zoos are highly underfunded and eventually Mrs. Haddock will cave under the pressure. And Hammond won't have a say."

"You are pure evil, Ludlow." Dagur inhaled sharply and exhaled into Ludlow's face. "I like it. You smell like evil genius." After a brief moment (too long in Ludlow's opinion), Dagur released him and asked, "Now how are we getting the baby to the mainland?"

Ludlow pulled out a map and unfolded it on the ground. He and Dagur crouched down in front of it. "There's a communication center here," Ludlow pointed to the building on the other side of the Visitor's Center. "It's the main structure and Hammond ran everything on geothermal power, so it was never supposed to need replenishing. It should still work. If we can get there, we can send a radio call for the airlift."

"Whoa, whoa, wait? Why can't you just use our own communication?"

Ludlow sighed, "Well, when those bandits came and freed all the other dragons, the attack on the camp destroyed our satellites. Our short range satellite phones work on the island, but I can't make connection with the mainland."

"Well then let's get this walking feast moving."

"Uh, Dagur, sir," one of the dragontologist piped up.

Whirling around, Dagur removed Ludlow's hat and hurled it at the poor dragontologist. "Don't. Ever. Eavesdrop. It's. rude." Dagur practically sang the last word. Ludlow sighed and picked up his hat from the ground.

"There may be a problem getting to the communication center," the dragontologist said and Dagur raised an eyebrow, daring him to continue. "That would take us straight through Changewing territory. The Changewings use the communications center and the area West as their territory, and since you captured the Bewilderbeast, you've probably unintentionally changed the Bewilderbeast's territory as well. That could push the Changewings closer to the Visitor's Center or farther away, hard to say exactly."

"I just came through that way and I was fine." Dagur said, decisively. "Load the Bewilderbeast onto the truck and move out."

"But…"

Dagur shouted, "I said load the Bewilderbeast onto the truck and MOVE OUT!"

* * *

Hiccup and Toothless had gotten away from Dagur mostly unscathed. The new prosthetic was causing some imbalance for Toothless. "There's a learning curve, bud, don't worry you'll get used to it." Hiccup encouraged his friend. "Remember I used to need a cane to walk? Pretty embarrassing."

Toothless tilted his head under his body to look at his tail again. He adjusted his real fin and the prosthetic mimicked the behavior. It wasn't perfect and the split second delay had put them into three trees so far. One of their collisions with the trees had crushed Hiccup's satellite phone, and Toothless had cooed apologetically. Hiccup had dismissed the apology by saying, "Don't worry, bud, it's not like the phone worked most of the time anyway."

The pair flew over a meadow with a small lake in the middle. There were tons of adults dragons flying in a circle. The motion seemed almost robotic. Toothless shook his head twice and tried to fly the other direction, away from the circling dragons. On the ground the babies played, seemingly unaware of the robotic nature of their parents in the air. Hiccup tugged on Toothless' shoulders, "C'mon, bud, let's check it out. I've never seen dragons do that before."

Toothless growled and flew the in the opposite direction that Hiccup had wanted. "Toothless, where's your sense of adventure?" Toothless grumbled but continued to follow his instincts to try to find Astrid and the others instead. Hiccup rolled his eyes, but let Toothless go anyway. He knew better than to try to override animal instincts. His mom almost lost her fingers once when she tried to do that, and he did promise Astrid he wouldn't come back to her missing any more limbs. "All right, you win. Let's go find Astrid."

[a/n] Thank you so much for reading. Please let me know what you think. And I have the remainder of the fic outlined, but I've been having trouble getting everything into cohesive words. So there may be a slight delay between the next few updates. My apologies.


	12. In the Tall Grass

**Chapter Twelve: In the Tall Grass**

The sun had begun to set. The BioSyn team had been walking towards the Visitor's Center at, according to the impatient Dagur, a glacial pace. After hearing the moans from behind him, Dagur said through gritted teeth, "All right. Take a five minute break." The group stopped and sat down on the ground and on the trunks of fallen trees nearby. The men driving the Jeeps and the truck that carried the still-sedated juvenile Bewilderbeast turned their ignition off but left the keys in the cars. They joined their comrades on the tree stumps and moss-covered rocks.

One of the men, named Dieter, took his leave to go to the bathroom and walked off into the forest. As he passed by a man sitting on a moss-covered rock, he said, "I'm hitting the little dragon's room, wait for me okay, Carter?" Without waiting for a reply, Dieter headed off. Unfortunately, Carter had headphones in and couldn't hear the request.

Dieter trudged through the forest, humming to himself and completely unaware of his surroundings. He had stumbled into Speed Stinger territory. Against the green foliage, the flightless theropod dragons were next to invisible. They watched the human and waited for the Lead Stinger's signal. The Lead Stinger cocked its head to the side and narrowed its eyes as it watched to determine if the human was a threat or if the human would just pass through the territory quickly without consequence.

Dieter pressed him neck against his chest to hold his gun securely in place as he unbuttoned his trousers. One of the juvenile Speed Stingers crept out of the cover of the trees to investigate. The other Speed Stingers, the Leader included, watched with baited breath. Dieter stumbled backwards upon seeing the small dragon approach. Dieter grabbed his gun from under his chin and aimed it at the dragon, who sniffed it.

"Huh, you're not afraid of the gun? Stupid dragon, I'll make you afraid," Dieter commented. He shot the ground directly in front of the little Speed Stinger. The dragon yelped in surprise, leapt into the air and then hurried back into the bush. Dieter laughed, "That'll teach you. Man is the dominant species on earth, you st…" His sentence was cut short as the Lead Stinger ran by him in a blur of green and red and stung him in the back with his tail.

The Lead Stinger growled over its shoulder to call to the rest of the pack. With a hive-like mentality and this human being a clear threat to the baby Speed Stinger, the rest of the pack circled around him, each one stinging him with their scorpion-like tails. There was nothing Dieter could do, for that first sting had fully paralyzed him and he watched helplessly as the rest of the pack sprinted in a circled around him stinging him from all angles. The poison from one single sting would paralyze him temporarily, but this brutal attack would surely kill him.

Back at the camp, Dagur slapped his palms onto his thighs and stood up quickly. "All right, break time's over! Let's move out."

"You only gave them three and a half minutes," Ludlow said as he hastily relaced his shoes.

"Whatever. The sooner we get to the Visitor's Center, the better. And besides, when people start to rest their adrenaline leaves their body and then they start to get tired. And tired people whine. And apparently it's unethical to shoot people who whine. So I try to save myself the internal battle of 'Do I shoot you because you're irritating as fuck? Or do I listen to you whine and whine and WHINE?" Dagur replied. Ludlow nodded very slowly in understanding and glanced briefly at the various weapons on Dagur's person.

"Aren't you going to make sure everyone is present?"

"Do I LOOK like their mother?" Dagur asked, incredulously. "I'll answer that for you, no, I am in fact, not their mother. If they've fallen behind that's on them. Move out." The group grabbed their supplies and weapons and followed Dagur once again. Two men climbed back into the Jeep and drove the baby Bewilderbeast behind the walking caravan of people.

They approached the tall grass. Ludlow opened his mouth to caution against going into the tall grass, but realizing that Dagur would probably not listen to any reasoning, sound or not, Ludlow decided just to follow the poacher. The group entered the tall grass and unbeknownst to them, a pack of dragons camouflaged themselves quickly. Four dragons flew behind the group while the rest of the flock spread out around the sides.

As the group continued to travel further into the tall grass, further into the Changewings' territory, the dragons slinked behind them. The Changewings hissed. Dagur's eyes narrowed and he held up his hand in a fist, signaling to the group to stop. Without warning, several of the men in the back of the group screamed in agony. Dagur and Ludlow ran towards them and Ludlow scrunched his face up in disgust at the sight: their skin was being melted off. Dagur commented, nonchalantly, "Huh, that's new."

The men began to panic and ran off in all different directions. The still-camouflaged Changewings chased after them, spitting acid as the men ran. Dagur dragged Ludlow to the Jeep. He wretched the men out of the car and hopped in. Ludlow barely had a chance to fully climb into the Jeep before Dagur had slammed his foot on the pedal and sped off towards the Visitor's Center.

* * *

Not long after the Changewings had pushed the intruders out of the edge of their territory, the dragons heard a new flock of humans approaching. The leader of the pack signaled to the other dragons and all of them camouflaged their scales against the landscape.

"Something's not right." Astrid rolled her eyes at Snotlout's ever growing alarmist mantra. "We're being hunted."

"Astrid, Snotlout may be right," Valka pointed to the tall grass, which still had remnants of the acid from the earlier attacks. "What kind of dragon has acid attacks?"

Both Fishlegs' and Astrid's eyes widened and their faces paled as they glanced at one another. "Changewings," she whispered.

"T-they must have attacked the BioSyn group and disintegrated their bodies with their acid attacks," Fishlegs concluded in the least-shaky voice he could muster.

"Everyone, run. As fast as you can. Don't look back. Go, go now!" Astrid shouted and the group immediately took off through the tall grass. The Changewings sensed the rapid change of pace from the flock of humans and flew ahead of them to cut them off at the edge of the tall grass. They landed and de-camouflaged themselves, baring their teeth as the humans approached. Astrid inhaled sharply at the three Changewings in front of them. Fishlegs and Snotlout immediately turned on their heels to run the other direction, but Valka stopped them.

"These dragons are pack hunters like wolves," she concluded and looked to Astrid for confirmation. The young blonde nodded. "Running the other way will solve nothing."

"Oh great, so this is how we die?" Snotlout complained. "I am so coming back from the dead and haunting the shit outta Hammond for this."

From the sky above, Astrid heard a familiar shrill sound echoing across the night sky. A smirk crept across her lips: he was alive. "Night Fury," she whispered to no one in particular. She watched as Hiccup circled around the group and mentally noted that Toothless' flying was not a smooth as usual. Toothless fired at the Changewings. The Changewings hissed and took off back into the grass.

Toothless landed less than gracefully, knocking Hiccup onto the ground. Hiccup somersaulted and landed directly in front of Astrid. He chuckled, "New prosthetic. Learning curve," he jabbed his thumb in Toothless' direction. Astrid extended her hand and hoisted her boyfriend to his feet.

"What happened?"

"Long story. But I made Toothless a new fin! I think that when we get home I might make another, one that's red." Hiccup said, but upon seeing his girlfriends concerned face, he elaborated, "Some deranged BioSyn poacher sliced off one of his tail rudders. Toothless couldn't fly. I made him a new one from supplies at the Visitor's Center."

"So where are your dragons, by the way?" Hiccup asked as he glanced around to see the group completely dragon-less. "And the camper? Did that not make it?"

"Oh no, the camper made it. It's just not drivable anymore."

"And I don't know what happened to our dragons. We were flying towards the Visitor's Center and all of a sudden they started to lose altitude. There was this weird hum in the air and they stopped listening to us."

"And then they threw us on the ground!" Ruff shouted.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the blonde teen and cleared his throat. "So why were you guys venturing into Changewing territory anyway?"

"Well, we didn't _know_ it was Changewing territory," Fishlegs crossed his arms, defensively. "We were going towards the Visitor's Center because that was the direction you fell and we were hoping we could call Hammond for a lift…"

"All right, well let's stick to the original plan," Hiccup interrupted, having a suspicion that Fishlegs would ask how to get the dragons back. And truth be told, having just found out that the dragons were missing, Hiccup didn't have a plan…yet. Hiccup pet Toothless on his snout, "Besides we shouldn't linger in Changewing territory. Toothless may have scared them off with his awesome plasma blasts, isn't that right, bud?" Hiccup cooed at his Night Fury and Toothless retracted his teeth and smiled at his rider. Quickly he looked at the group and cleared his throat, "But, uh, anyway, they'll be back with a vengeance if we don't get outta their territory quickly."

After walking for a few minutes, the group approached the Visitor's Center. "Well, it looks like BioSyn beat us here," Tuff commented. "Cyah, and they have a cool airlift. Why don't you guys have a cool airlift?" Ruff pointed into the sky.

"Oh gods, no," Hiccup complained as he saw the airlift hoisting a baby Bewilderbeast up into the sky.

"They won' e'er learn, will they?" Gobber crossed his arms. "Le's jest make mommy mo'e angry. Tha' sounds like a good plan. Oh an' while we're at it, le's bring a dragon t' the mainland so angry mommy has lotsa people t' take revenge on."

"Wait you don't actually think that the mother Bewilderbeast would go to the mainland and exact revenge on a bunch of humans, do you? I didn't think animals did the whole revenge thing?" Snotlout asked.

Valka explained, "Maternal instincts will most likely kick in. It won't exactly be revenge, but she will likely try to kill anyone who tries to stop her from getting her baby back. She will associate anyone in the way with the ones who took the baby, whether or not she's right. We need to go after them."

"Well this is just bloody fantastic," Snotlout muttered. "Now what?"

Hiccup crossed his arms over his chest. "Isn't it obvious? We follow them and stop BioSyn's crazy plan before they injure the dragon or hurt any innocent people in the process."

"Well this is just gonna be a blast, isn't it?" Snotlout complained. The twins nodded, feverishly and he rolled his eyes.

Gobber slapped his good hand onto Snotlout's shoulder, "C'mon Snotlout, where's your sense of adventure?"

Snotlout glared at him. "Y'know it's times like these when I miss working on Hammond's Kenyan preserve. And I'll tell you one thing: I _never_ thought I'd say that."

[a/n] Sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoyed it. And I hope that you and yours have a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for reading!


	13. Not All the Dragons

**Chapter Thirteen: Not All of the Dragons**

The group watched as the airlift hoisted the baby Bewilderbeast into the air. Ludlow and Dagur rode alongside of the airlift in a helicopter of their own, carefully monitoring the progress. The ascent was slow, as they had to be careful not to injure the cargo or to break the chains. Only a handful of their men had made it safely out of the tall grass and to the rendezvous point. They were in a second helicopter that was already starting off towards the mainland. Two of them remained on the ground, standing guard.

Hiccup let out a heavy sigh, "Well guys, I never thought I'd say this…and gods I'm not sure if it's the best idea…but…Ruff, Tuff, we need to take down the helicopter and the airlift."

The twins smirked at one another, high-fived and then playfully headbutted one another. They quickly came up with a plan, or at least that's what the adults _assumed_ they were doing. Ruff and Tuff, in true twin nature, spoke in half sentences and gestures, once grabbing at Hiccup's prosthetic (which Hiccup begrudgingly yanked away from their grasp).

Without warning they hurried off towards the floating airlift. Tuff got there first and laced his fingers together. His sister quickened her pace and jumped into his hands so that he could hoist her onto the airlift. The adults watched with mouths agape. In theory this plan would have worked, in practice, however, not so much. Ruff landed face first on the ground.

Hiccup rubbed his temples while Astrid stifled a giggle behind her hand. Valka's eyes widened and she hurried over to the twins. Gobber and Snotlout followed quickly behind.

The guards nearby had not noticed the twins' antics, but when the adults had moved into the scene they had taken notice. The two guards began to move towards the group, but Dagur waved them off. "No, the cargo is the only this that matters. Don't you dare move from your posts." The two guards exchanged glances and shrugged, returning to their posts as instructed. Dagur whispered to himself, "Besides there is nothing they can do to stop us anyway, so let them try."

Tuff walked over to his sister and extending a hand to help her to her feet. "Want to try again? You launch me this time?"

"No, no," Valka's mother voice came out sternly. "What in all of Valhalla made you two think that would work?"

Snotlout leaned over, "They do this all the time. That's why they're nicknamed 'Ruff' and 'Tuff.'"

"Cause we're rough around the edges and tough as steel!" The twins grinned toothily and crossed their arms triumphantly over their chests.

"They do this oft'n?" Gobber wondered aloud.

Snotlout sighed and pulled out a small notebook. He flipped through almost the entire notebook before finding a blank page. "Often enough that Hammond makes me keep a list. She wants me to alphabetize it eventually." Valka and Gobber raised their eyebrows at the notion. "Y'know so that when they inevitably try to repeat a stunt we can say 'Oh but you tried that already, maybe find something else to do.'"

"Oookay lovely anecdote," Hiccup interrupted, "But, uh, they're getting closer to completely leaving the island with a Bewilderbeast."

"I know!" Tuff shouted. "Let's go get…"

"No," Astrid cut him off. "You two used your idea. No more."

"Can we use Toothless?" Valka suggested as she gestured to the Night Fury's hiding place in the dense brush behind them. Hiccup shook his head.

"Dagur tried to kill Toothless the first time we met, I need Toothless to stay hidden."

In the distance the group heard an ominous roar. Then a flutter of wings. Over the tree-line the group could see a huge flock of dragons flying away. Their movements were almost robotic, and Hiccup mentally noted the similarities between the patterned circled flying he and Toothless had witnessed earlier and the current robotic-like flight patterns. The BioSyn team paused briefly in hoisting the baby Bewilderbeast into the air before Dagur began barking orders at them to speed it up. Meanwhile Fishlegs turned to the other dragontologists and whispered, "I think our situation may have just gotten worse."

"Okay plan B, I'm going to fly back with Toothless and Astrid. We'll try to beat BioSyn back to the mainland. Mom, you get a hold of …"

"Hey Hiccup…" Tuff pulled at Hiccup's shirt-sleeve. Hiccup initially waved off Tuff, intent on forming a plan to save the unsuspecting civilians on the mainland and of course ultimately the dragons. Tuff huffed and pressed the matter, not allowing Hiccup to get any more words in edgewise. Hiccup sighed and through gritted teeth said, "What is it _now_ , Tuff?"

"Well I dunno about you, but I'd have a hard time flying a dragon that was gone." Tuff pointed to the bushes where Toothless _had_ been hiding. Hiccup's eyes widened. While distracted by the situation, the group didn't notice Toothless struggling against the angry Bewilderbeast's mind-control. Ultimately, he had succumbed to it and had flown off. Ruff pointed to the sky, "That looks like Toothless…"

Tuff crossed his arms and jeered, "Oh yeah? How do you _know_? Mom says you need glasses."

Ruff palmed her brother's face and pushed him to the ground. "Duh 'cause Toothless is the only black dragon." From his position on the ground, Tuff muttered a defeated 'I knew that.'

"So let me get this straight, they took the Bewilderbeasts AND all of our dragons?" Snotlout complained. "Could this possibly get _any_ worse?"

"Technically, BioSyn only took the _baby_ Bewilderbeast. The mother retaliated by dragging all of the other dragons with her to hunt for her baby by emitting a homing signal similar to that of the Red Death. Maternal instincts are very strong in this Bewilderbeast species; we should definitely note that in the Book of Dragons," Fishlegs explained. Snotlout glared at Fishlegs.

"So what now?" Astrid asked.

"We go after them," Hiccup said.

"How? Fishlegs said the Bewilderbeast took _all_ of the dragons."

"Not all of them," Hiccup smirked. "Follow me."

The group hurried after Hiccup who lead them back to the meadow that he and Toothless had passed by on their way. Sure enough there was a group of baby dragons playing. Fishlegs asked, "I don't understand, why aren't they being controlled by the Bewilderbeast?"

Hiccup half shrugged. "The Bewilderbeast seems to only be able to control the adult dragons. If we ride in on these we should be okay."

"How can you be sure?" Fishlegs asked.

"Uh, 'sure' is kind of a strong word, this is more of a hunch. But I am a scientist so most things are best proven by some old-fashion trial and error. But I mean they're babies, maybe they just don't listen to the homing signal," Hiccup replied as he extended his palm to one of the baby dragons. The baby sniffed the open hand, licked it and then rolled over into the grass, exposing his tummy to Hiccup. Hiccup chuckled to himself. "And I mean they're babies, they probably don't listen to anyone."

"So what makes you think they'll listen to us? Or let us ride them?"

"Because he's the dragon master!" Tuff announced, decisively.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "What? Oh gods, no. I'm not a dragon master, but we really don't have another option unless the camper has some type of floatation device you didn't tell me about."

Several moments later the group each had their own baby dragon and was flying, more or less. Valka described to them where the BioSyn facility was on the mainland, and the group decided to start their search there. Hiccup of course, effortlessly rode on the baby dragon. Astrid had an almost dancer-like grace as she rode on hers. Valka, after a few moments of acquainting herself to the dragon, was also a natural. The twins were struggling with their dragons, not that _they_ knew that.

"This is insane!" Snotlout complained.

"Insanely fun you mean," Tuff shouted from the back of his baby dragon.

"Some might suggest this is poorly con—whoa—conceived," Gobber said as he tried his best to steady his baby dragon.

Valka was faring much better with her baby dragon and she encouraged it to catch up to Hiccup. "So what's the plan?"

"Get Toothless and the other dragons back and kick Dagur's ass!" Hiccup replied.

[a/n] I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think! And thank you Quintain Apprentince of Alduin for beta-reading!


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